


Neutrinos In Bloom

by Lion_owl



Series: Weddings In Springtime - Trilogy [1]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Bear with me with the Molly and Ulaya thing you'll see, Ensemble Cast, F/F, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Multiple Pov, Now complete, Plus a guest appearance from some Tribbles in chapter 7, Post-Canon, Slice of Life, That tag seems to have been deleted?, Tribbles, Weddings, basically everyone - Freeform, happiness, mostly lots of people hugging each other, okay some very minor angst with Kira's conflicting relationships but that's only a tiny bit, only tagged the relationship tags, there are far too many friendship tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-02 17:22:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8676175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lion_owl/pseuds/Lion_owl
Summary: Four years after the end of the war, everyone reunites on DS9 for Garak and Bashir's wedding.Snippets of family life and friends chilling out together, leading up to the big day.Bashir: there's nothing more romantic than a wedding on DS9 in springtime.O’Brien: when the neutrinos are in bloom.~~ S6E7 You Are Cordially Invited





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to post the start of this as motivation not to let it slip away from me unfinished like a lot of my stories do so I've decided to chapter it, each new part will be posted as soon as possible, hopefully it will be complete within a couple of weeks at most.
> 
> This isn't necessarily how I imagine everything would have actually happened post-series but I’m having family problems at the moment and needed this happy fluff to take my mind off it. Hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Also, sorry Vic’s dialogue isn't as slang-filled as on the show but i'm afraid 60s Las Vegas isn’t exactly my forte.
> 
> In this story, Kasidy and Sisko's child is a daughter called Eilidh-Mairead.

_Bashir: there's nothing more romantic than a wedding on DS9 in springtime._

_O’Brien: when the neutrinos are in bloom._

_~ S6E7 You Are Cordially Invited_

Julian rather considered it a small miracle. All of his – and yes, Elim’s – friends from his tenure on Deep Space Nine were now spread across the quadrants, but clearly they’d picked the right date to return to the station and hold their wedding, because there hadn’t been a single person they’d invited who had responded to say they couldn’t get time off their respective duties to celebrate with the happy couple. Kira had even risked taking a runabout to the Changelings’ home world and convinced Odo to attend.

Technically, they were already married – they’d held a considerably smaller ceremony on Cardassia the previous week with their friends and colleagues from home, but Julian had wanted to be married under Federation law as well with their old friends, and Deep Space Nine was the obvious choice of venue. Elim had been more than happy to go along with it.

**

When the small transport ship arrived at the station to drop them off, Colonel Kira was waiting for them in the docking ring. As soon as he stepped out into the corridor, she launched herself at him and hugged him tightly.

“It’s good to see you again, Julian,” she said as he hugged her back.

“And you, Nerys. It will be good to see everyone again.” He pulled away and she released him, aiming a polite nod in Garak’s direction.

“Are you going to introduce me to the little one?” she asked.

“Of course,” he grinned. The little one in question was a small girl currently standing behind Garak, half hidden from Kira. She was extremely timid. “This is Ulaya Bashir.”

Kira raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll tell you the story later,” Julian promised. “Ulaya, come and meet Kira,” he tried to coax her out from behind her father, but she wouldn’t budge.

“I’ll wait,” Kira said. “In the meantime, shall I show you to your quarters?”

“That would be most pleasant, thank you,” Garak said, speaking for the first time since their arrival.

**

The _USS Lancelot_. The ship to which Lieutenant Nog had been assigned, and the ship on which Jake Sisko was travelling from Earth to Bajor along with the O’Briens, to whose quarters he’d been invited for dinner along with Nog.

He’d seen more of the O’Briens than anyone else from Deep Space Nine since he’d left to finally begin his studies at the Pennington School, and often looked after Kirayoshi and Molly, who Miles and Keiko insisted looked up to him a great deal.

The door opened to admit him, and the moment he stepped inside Molly ran up to him and thrust a PADD at him.

“What’s this?” he asked as he handed the wine he’d brought to Keiko – who thanked him – and took the PADD.

“It’s a story I wrote!” she declared happily. “I want to be a writer like you are.”

“Is that right?” Jake asked. “Then I suppose I’ll have to read it later.”

She nodded, then turned and skipped back to the the living area where Kirayoshi sat on the floor doing some colouring in.

“Miles! Food’s ready!” Keiko shouted, and a moment later her husband appeared from the bedroom.

“Aren’t Reg or Nog here yet?” Miles asked, just as the door chimed.

“That will be one of them,” Keiko said, but as it turned out, it was both of them.

Jake hugged his friend in greeting – he hadn’t seen him in several months and hadn’t had a chance to see him again since beaming aboard the _Lancelot_ – then turned to the other man, who was presumably Reg, and held his hand out. “I’m Jake.”

“So I’ve heard from Nog,” Reg smiled and shook his hand, albeit a little tentatively. “I work at – at Jupiter station.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Jake grinned, and Keiko called everyone to come and sit down at the table.

**

Ezri hovered outside Julian and Garak’s quarters for longer than she wished to admit before she finally swallowed her nerves and pressed the button.

The door slid open to reveal Julian just in time for her to catch a blurred figure dart across the room and into the smaller bedroom. When her old friend looked up to see her, a grin spread across his face and he stood from the sofa.

She stepped over the threshold and into the room slowly as the door hissed closed behind her and they approached each other.

“How are you doing?” she asked.

“Well. Really well. How are you doing?”

In response she pointed to her collar, where she now wore the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

“Congratulations!” he seemed to deliberate for another moment before hugging her, and she felt the tension seep out of both of them. “It’s good to be back.” He admitted.

“Kira tells me you brought a child with you, do I get to hear the story?” she asked. Kira hadn’t said anything more specific than that, and Ezri couldn’t deny she was curious.

“Yes, our daughter Ulaya. She’s ten. She didn’t really give Kira much of a chance to say hello.”

“Ten? You only met him ten years ago!”

He took her by the elbow and led her to the other side of the room, had his voice had dropped several decibels when he elaborated: “not ours biologically, she was orphaned during the war.”

“I thought Cardassians didn’t care for orphans?” she asked, her voice equally quiet.

“They didn’t before half their planet was destroyed. Desperate times, desperate measures, as the expression goes; they had no choice but to change their stance on certain things if they wanted to be able to rebuild their world.”

She looked back towards the child’s bedroom. “Poor thing,” she whispered.

“They’re a strong people, they’ll be okay,” he said, back to his normal volume. “Hey, come and meet her. She can’t hide in here the entire holiday.”

He made his way to the door of the child’s bedroom, and Ezri set herself down on the couch.

“Ulaya,” he said softly, crouching on the floor. “I want you to meet my friend Dax. Come on, she won’t hurt you.” _Dax?_

Several minutes passed when Ezri thought it wouldn’t happen but eventually the girl stepped out of her bedroom and edged towards her.

“Hello,” she said. “I’m Dax. And you?” she asked. The girl looked at Julian and he nodded, and she turned to Ezri.

“I’m Bashir,” the girl said, her voice almost non-existent.

 _Bashir?_ Ezri thought. “It’s nice to meet you, Bashir.” It felt odd addressing a child by surname, but Julian had introduced her to Ulaya as Dax so she assumed there was a reason.

A huge smile broke across the child’s face. “It’s nice to meet you too, Dax,”

“Can I get either of you anything?” Ezri asked, getting up and going to the replicator. Ulaya looked confused, or at least, Ezri assumed it was confusion. She ordered a raktajino which she passed to Julian, and a hot chocolate for herself.

“Rokassa juice will be fine,” Julian answered for the girl, who seemed unwilling or unable to respond. Ezri relayed the command to the replicator.

“It’s, er, _pungent_ ,” she remarked when the drink materialised and she lifted it, holding it out to Ulaya, who took it tentatively.

“It’s an acquired taste,” Julian admitted.

**

It was the middle of the night on Bajor when the communication system announced that the _Lancelot_ had entered orbit, and Benjamin, who had been waiting up for his son’s arrival, ordered his computer to patch it through.

“Hi Dad!” Jake’s voice rang out. “Can I beam down now?”

“Whenever you’re ready,” Benjamin said, sure his grin could be heard even all those kilometres away. A moment later, a silvery shimmer of light and Jake materialised in the middle of the room. He was immediately engulfed in a hug.

The signal from the ship cut off, and they were alone.

“It’s been too long, son.”

“At least your sense of the passage of time has returned,” Jake smirked and clapped his dad’s back. They were soon joined by Eilidh-Mairead, then Kasidy who brought a tray carrying four mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of biscuits.

“Molly wants me to teach her how to be a writer,” Jake told them when they were all settled down in front of the fire. “Today she gave me one of her stories, it’s actually quite good.”

“Sounds like you’ve got yourself some work experience,” Kasidy laughed. “She could be your apprentice.”

“I actually found myself learning things today – when I was explaining them to her, I found my own understanding was being reinforced.”

“It’s a time-honoured strategy,” Ben said.

“I like Molly,” Eilidh-Mairead weighed in. “I always have fun when I play with her and Yoshi.”

“Well, you’ll see them very soon,” Kasidy promised. “And you’ll have another child to play with as well.”

“Who?” Jake asked.

“I guess you haven’t heard yet, the happy couple have a daughter.” Ben informed him.

Jake almost choked on his biscuit and managed to cough out a few crumbs accidentally. “I like Garak well enough, but from what I know of him I can’t picture parenthood fitting him,” he admitted.

“He’s certainly a mystery,” was all Ben said.

“Mummy, can you brush my hair?” Eilidh-Mairead asked, keeping the conversation one she could partake in.

“Of course, sweetie,” Kasidy said, reaching over to the sofa where the girl’s hairbrush had been abandoned earlier that evening as her daughter sat cross-legged in front of her.

“I want to wear my orange dress to the wedding,” she added.

“I’m certain that can be arranged,” Ben said

**

The bed beside her was empty when Nerys woke up, and wrapping her blanket around her she headed into the living room to get breakfast.

Ezri was sitting on the sofa, already fully dressed and eating a piece of cheese on toast.

“Good morning,” Nerys said, ordering a raktajino and sitting down beside her friend. “Is something bothering you, Zee?”

It had started a couple of months ago, they’d been at Quark’s, not long after Julian had sent a communique that everyone would be able to attend his wedding, and they’d started reminiscing about old times before all their friends had moved away, and the drunker they’d got, the more their reminiscence had become lamentation, and as they had stumbled back to Ezri’s quarters, the subject of their lament had become lost love: Bareil, Shakaar, Odo; Lenara, Worf, Julian, and a girl Ezri had been involved with before she had been joined.

Before they knew it they had started kissing desperately, and that night they fell into bed together. The next morning they’d agreed it was a mistake that wouldn’t happen again. But it had happened again, repeatedly, and after a while they’d decided just to let it happen.

“Odo’s going to arrive today,” she said, taking another bite of her food. “Things might be a bit awkward.”

“Worf arrives tomorrow, Julian’s already here. How’s that any different?”

“It was never really _Ezri_ who loved Worf, and Julian was always better off as a friend than anything else, only Jadzia was wise enough to recognise that _before_ she did something stupid.”

“And you’re upset because I still love Odo,” Nerys guessed.

“No. I just don’t want to cause problems with you and him,” she said. “I’m sure he still loves you as well.”

“He made a choice to leave four years ago. I don’t begrudge him that, but if he’s upset about us then that’s his problem.”

“Us? What us?” Ezri sounded almost bitter. She had discarded her food and turned to face Nerys. “We’ve never been on a _date_ , we just have sex then pretend to the rest of the galaxy that we’re friends.”

“You _are_ upset that I’m not over him.” She put down her mug and took both of Ezri’s hands in her own.

“It’s not fair of me to expect that of you, I _don’t_ expect that of you,” her voice was barely a whisper. And she refused to make eye contact. “But I – I love you.”

“Oh, Zee,” Kira leaned forward and cupped the Trill’s face in her own. “I –” she found herself unable to actually say the words out loud, so instead she said: “let’s have dinner at the Vulcan restaurant tonight.”

Ezri nodded.

**

The band was just packing up when the door of the holosuite slid open and Julian Bashir set foot in the lounge for the first time in far too long.

“Heya pally! How’ve you been?” Vic greeted him, the twentieth century and twenty-fourth century aspects of his programming warring over whether to offer his friend a hug or a hearty hand-shake. Julian made the decision for him, wrapping his arms around the singer’s shoulders.

“It’s been too long,” Julian said.

“Indeed it has – how long exactly, a year, two years?”

“Three years.”

“Must have been deactivated more than I thought,” Vic mused. “Why didn’t you visit?”

“I wanted to but I’ve been so busy, helping to rebuild a planet is an unrelenting job.”

“Can’t say I’ve experienced it. That’d be Cardassia, eh?”

Julian nodded and they released each other.

“Well you’re here now, that’s the main thing. So how you doing anyway?”

“Actually, I’m getting married.”

Vic found himself doing a double take. Julian had always seemed firmly against the idea of getting married. It took him a moment to respond. “Good on ya, who’s the lucky gal?”

“No gal, actually,” Julian corrected.

“Sorry, bad habit. 1960s programming.” Vic chastised himself. “So who’s the lucky fella?”

“Do you remember Garak?” Julian asked. “He only visited once and he didn’t stay very long.”

“Cardassian bloke?” Of course, Vic remembered perfectly – his memory was a computer. “Shocked that I recognised he wasn’t Human despite being a pre-spaceflight character.”

“That’s the one. You really took him by surprise that day, quite an achievement.” Julian laughed. “I could have kissed you.”

“I don’t think he would have been too pleased about that,” Vic pointed out, laughing as well.

“Anyway, I wanted to invite you to the wedding,” Julian said, and Vic raised an eyebrow.

“I thought I couldn’t leave this room?” he asked. He wasn’t exactly an expert, but he could transfer his matrix between the different suites and once out of curiosity he’d tried transferring himself onto the promenade – that had been an uncomfortable experience. “I don’t suppose you’re planning to hold it in my lounge?”

“I’m not sure exactly how it works either,” Julian told him. “But one of our starships stumbled across some twenty-ninth century technology and acquired a mobile emitter for their holographic doctor, which the engineers at Jupiter Station somehow managed to duplicate it.”

“Sounds intriguing. If it works I’d love to come to your wedding.”

**

(~)

 _“You should have seen it, Vic,” Julian was saying. “I was about to enter the infirmary and everyone was going about their business as usual when a huge crowd formed. Naturally, I was curious so I went to see what was happening and there were Odo –_ Odo _– and Kira kissing passionately in the middle of the promenade.”_

_Vic grinned. “So my little plan worked out then.”_

_“Your little plan?” Miles asked._

_“I might have nudged them along a little bit. Odo actually asked for my help, I’d like to thank you for recommending my services by the way, Julian.”_

_“What did I do?” Julian sounded surprised._

_“He probably overheard you telling me how Vic helped you get together with that Ensign Walker of yours.” Miles suggested._

_“How are things with you and Jessica anyhow?” Vic asked, and noticed that Julian stiffened almost imperceptibly. Probably didn’t want to talk about it. “You broke up?”_

_“We weren’t right,” was all he said before getting up and going to the bar to refill his glass. Vic had always wondered why people drank and ate while they were in the holosuite – surely the food was as insubstantial to them as their ‘real’ food would be meaningless to him?_

_“Ah, doctor! I thought I might find you here.” Another voice, an unfamiliar one, and Vic looked up to see someone else had entered the holosuite and now stood by the bar talking to Julian. Miles looked rather uncomfortable about his arrival._

_“Hey Julian, you gonna introduce me to your friend?” Vic called, and the two came over to the table._

_“This is Garak,” Julian informed him. “Garak, this is Vic Fontaine.”_

_“Are you introducing me to a hologram?” Garak asked. Vic was used to this, and in all truth it didn’t bother him that much, but he couldn’t resist toying with him._

_“You’re a Cardassian, right? I’ve studied the station database but you’re the first one I’ve met in person.”_

_Garak looked dumfounded – and Julian looked impressed._

_“How is that possible?” Garak asked after several long moments._

_“Damned if I know. I’m a twentieth century lounge singer, not a twenty-fourth century engineer.”_

_“Doctor, would you come to my shop?” Garak asked, ignoring Vic and Miles. “There’s something I wish to discuss.”_

_“Of course.” Then Julian turned to his other friends. “If you’ll both excuse me.”_

_“Not at all, Julian, have fun,” Vic winked at him and received a slight glare in return._

_“See you for dinner?” Miles asked, to which Julian responded in the affirmative before leaving the holosuite._

_“Why haven’t they told each other they’re in love with each other?” Vic asked once they were out of earshot, and Miles’ head whipped up._

_“They’re not in love!” he protested._

_“They’re definitely in love,” Vic insisted. “And neither of them has said anything yet. Perhaps I should – “_

_“Don’t even_ think _about encouraging Julian to date_ him,” _Miles interrupted, scowling._

“ _I thought by your century Humans were beyond homophobia?” Vic tried not to sound disgusted._

 _“It’s not that at all! Julian’s dated other men before and I never had a problem with it. It’s, well,_ Garak _I have a problem with. You don’t know him like I do.”_

_“Then educate me.”_

(~)

_By the end of that conversation, Miles had expected Vic to come around to his reasoning, but instead Vic had somehow managed to convince him that despite some of Garak’s less than savoury personality traits, it would be the right thing for Julian to be with him. Vic had tried to make it his personal mission, but he never saw Garak again after that, and had to settle for pestering Julian about admitting his feelings to the Cardassian._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to make all the chapters roughly the same length but this one is shorter because this little story felt like it should have a chapter to itself, and also I don't want to go too long between updates lest my readers get bored and i'm too tired to do any more writing tonight.

 (~)

_“Come in,” he called._

_“Hey, Garak,” Julian stepped into the room, feeling rather on edge._

_“Doctor!” His friend smiled congenially. “What can I do for you?”_

_He looked as though he’d been about to go to bed._ Be in love with me, _Julian thought._ Maybe travel in time and tell my younger self that so we can have more time together _._

 “ _You’re leaving in the morning?” he asked instead. “To meet with Damar.”_

_“That’s correct,” Garak said._

_“I just wanted to see you before you left.”_ I wanted to tell you that I love you _, he didn’t say. “I…”_

_An almost sad look crossed those beautiful features and the silence lay thick and heavy between them. Julian found his eyes drawn to Garak’s lips and wondered what would happen if he simply stepped forward and kissed the Cardassian._

_“I’ll…” whatever Garak was going to say, he didn’t say it. Julian had never been one to hold back when he had feelings for someone, but for some inexplicable reason he’d been holding onto caution with Garak, he decided it was high time to throw it to the wind._

_“Garak,” his voice was quiet as he stepped into the other man’s space and placed a tentative hand on his arm, drawing close to him. “Garak,” he repeated in a whisper, and the other did not pull away so he closed the distance between their mouths, he felt cool hands on his waist as the kiss was reciprocated and became desperate, before Garak stiffened and stepped back._

_“We can’t do this,” he said, a little breathless despite himself._

_“Why not?” Julian felt heat sear up his face. “I know you enjoyed that, I could feel it.”_

_“Because I may not survive my upcoming mission, and if I do and am successful, I may finally be able to return home.” Garak explained._

_“Then I’ll come with you.” Julian didn’t like how this was turning out, not one bit._

_“You? Living on Cardassia? Don’t make me laugh.”_

_That hurt. “I – I love you.”_

_Garak’s expression turned cold then. “You’ve had seven years to tell me that, Julian. You missed your chance.”_

_“What about you? If I missed my chance, that means there was one, but you’ve never said anything.”_

_“I’ve told you on plenty of occasions, I just didn’t realise you needed such an obvious_ declaration _,” he countered. “I think perhaps that you should leave.”_

_Anger surging through him, he turned on his heel and left without another word. Garak be damned, Julian would be fine without him. And he would prove it. He threw himself head-first into a relationship with Ezri, and by the time he met Garak again on Cardassia Prime, standing in the wreckage left by the Dominion, he’d calmed down enough to give Garak some kind words as they said goodbye._

_But he wasn’t fine without him._

_He wasn’t fine: he could barely get Garak off his mind, even when he was with Ezri, and his work wasn’t the sanctuary it should have been either. Garak smiling fondly at him across their table in the replimat, his and Garak’s long and animated debates about literature and politics, Garak’s lips on his own as he replayed that one kiss they had shared over and over in his mind, Garak’s cold expression as it all ended in disaster, the thoroughly distraught expression on his friends face as they stood amidst the ruins and said goodbye…_

_Ten months later, he and Ezri finally saw sense and called an end to their mutually ill-advised involvement, agreeing to remain friends. Around the same time, someone unexpected showed up in the infirmary…_

_Julian sat at his desk, going through yet another set of computations attempting to predict how this particularly pesky virus would mutate next, when his door sounded and he took advantage of the excuse to put his PADDs aside._

_“Come in,” he called, and heard the door hiss open, and swivelled his chair around. “How can I help y– Garak?” his old friend stood before him, visibly apprehensive. He himself was unable to speak._

_“Hello, doctor.”_

_“Garak,” he had absolutely no idea what to say._

_“How are you doing, doctor?” Garak asked._

_“I could be better,” Julian found himself fidgeting with his pen. He could barely believe what he was seeing – Garak, back – and fully expected to wake up at any moment. “What are you doing here?”_

_“I – I miss you,” Garak admitted, and Julian was glad he was already sitting down, because otherwise he may well have fallen over. Garak continued: “I was cruel, the night before I left for the Resistance, I was wrong to say what I said and I wanted to apologise.”_

_“Is that the truth?” Julian asked._

_“Even I wouldn’t lie about this, doctor – if you can forgive me, I –” he didn’t get to finish his sentence because Julian was on his feet and kissing him and Garak had melted into the kiss, and they held onto each other’s elbows for support._

_“Some things never change,” Garak mused when they parted, but he was smiling._

_“What’s that supposed to mean?”_

_“You were always too quick to forgive.”_

_“Maybe, but I still love you,” Julian told him, pressing their foreheads together gently._

_“I feel the same way about you,” Garak said. “And I will understand if you’ve changed your mind, but if you’re still willing to come with me, then lucky for us, I have quite a bit of influence within the new Cardassian government and have been able to convince them we could use an Ambassador from the Federation. I’ve put in a request with Colonel Kira to have you specifically.”_

_“Garak, I’m a doctor, not an ambassador.”_

_“For all intents and purposes you could continue to practice medicine, I only thought an official title would allow you to keep your Starfleet commission in the event that you wished to return.”_

_“You’ve really thought it through,” Julian was touched. He really thought he’d seen the last of Garak, but here the man was offering the relationship he’d wanted for years and the perfect opportunity to take it._

_Before anything else could be said, the door went again and revealed Kira, who stopped when she saw the two of them, and they broke apart._

_“Colonel,” Julian noticed she was holding a PADD._

_“I’m assuming you already know what I’m here to talk to you about,” she said, looking between the two men. She held the PADD out to him. “There’s a request here for you to fill a 'highly beneficial' role as Federation Ambassador to the New Cardassian Union.”_

_He looked at Garak, whose usually indecipherable face had hope written all over it. When Julian had made the offer a year ago, he’d meant it, and it didn’t take a lot of thought to realise that he still wanted that now._

_He took the PADD from Kira. “I accept.”_

(~)


	3. Chapter 3

“I’m going to see Nog agaaaain!” Rom repeated for at least the tenth time – Leeta had lost count – since they’d got within hailing range of Deep Space Nine, elongating his syllables even more than usual. “My so-o-o-o-o-o-on!”

By the time they had docked, he was practically bouncing in his seat.

Nog wasn’t waiting for them when they stepped off the ship so he immediately asked the computer for his location.

“Lieutenant Nog is in holosuite two,” the mechanical voice relayed, and Rom gave a smug look.

“Lieutenant,” he grinned.

“Would you like to be escorted to quarters?” asked the security officer who had met them.

“No, I want to see my son.”

“Can I take your bags, then?” the officer asked, but Rom had already wandered off in the direction of his brother’s bar.

“No, thank you,” Leeta filled the gap in Rom’s manners. “I’m sure we’ll find our own way later.”

With a curt nod, the officer left them and Leeta went after her husband.

“Brother! Brother, you’re back! Hello again, Leeta,” Quark greeted them with the customary V-shape of his hands. “You didn’t bring your Staff,” he noted.

“Hey Quark,” Leeta said.

“Whhhy should I? I’m not here on official business.”

Quark gave him a look of despair, but didn’t bother to say anything.

“I want to see Nog, will he be in the holosuites much longer?”

“His time runs out in about five minutes.”

“I will wait for him here, then. I’ll have a snail juice.”

“Coming right up,” Quark moved away from where he was leaning on the counter to make the drink. “Do you want anything, Leeta?”

“I’ll have a springwine,” she said, reaching in her pocket for a few strips of latinum and placing them on the bar.

**

Kira never thought she would see Odo again. As she watched him slowly disappear into the ocean of his people, it really struck her. He’s leaving. He’s never coming back.

It had been painful at first, but like any relationship which comes to an end, the pain had faded over the years and Kira was ready to move on with her life, and when things happened with Ezri she got so caught up in it she almost forgot Odo.

When Julian had requested permission to have the wedding on Deep Space Nine, when he told her he wanted everyone to come back for the ceremony, she’d promised to get in touch with Odo and it all came surging back to her.

 _Would Odo even still be Odo?_ She wondered as she stood on that tiny little island among a sea of gold. Then he had appeared, wearing a tuxedo and said “ _Nerys! It’s good to see you again”_ and she had been frozen on the spot.

_“I can’t stay long,” she had eventually managed to say._

_“I understand. Running the station is a busy job, I’m sure.”_

_“How are you doing?” she asked, unsure if she was enquiring about Odo or the entire Great Link. As far as she knew, there hadn’t been any more trouble from the Dominion since the end of the war. That was probably mostly thanks to the work Odo was doing here._

_“We’re getting there.” He said. “I haven’t been an I in four years.”_

_“Are you still you, though?”_

_“In humanoid terms, yes, I’m still me.”_

_That wasn’t as comforting as it should have been. Did all the Founders know the personal things she had told Odo, or had he been able to keep certain things to himself?_

_“I have an invitation for you, that’s why I came.”_

_“An invitation?” he raised an eyebrow, and suddenly she realised his shapeshifting abilities had improved – his facial features were far more distinct than they had been when he lived on the station._

_“From Dr Bashir and Mr Garak. They’re getting married on Deep Space Nine.”_

_“I’d be delighted to attend.”_

_“Really?” she hadn’t truly expected him to leave the Link for that long._

_“I’ll be there. Just tell me when.”_

He couldn’t leave immediately, he’d told her, but he’d be there in a few days. She’d bade him farewell then and ordered the runabout to beam her aboard, and spent the entire trip home trying not to feel anxious about the fact that _Odo was coming back_ , if only temporarily.

A vessel from the gamma quadrant had come through the wormhole ten minutes ago and requested to dock. Now Kira stood in the docking ring waiting for him to step onto the station for the first time in four years…

**

“Jake-o! What’s taking you so long?” His dad banged on the bedroom door again. “We have to be at the shuttle pad in ten minutes and it’s a fifteen minute walk!”

He couldn’t find his note pad. The really important one with the story he was currently working on. It wasn’t under the bed, it wasn’t in his bag.

“I’m sure they’ll wait for the Emissary of the Prophets!” he shouted back.

“That’s not the _point_ , Jake!” the door opened, and down the hall he could hear Eilidh-Mairead ask Kasidy what the ‘memmisy of the prophets’ was.

His dad was standing in the doorway, a horrified look on his face. “You’ve been here all of two days and it already looks like you’ve been living here for a month! How can you cope with so much mess?”

“Ah, here it is!” the notebook was lodged in the tiny crack between the wardrobe and the desk. He shoved it into the suitcase he was taking to DS9. “I’m ready to leave now.”

“So, you’re a Bajoran god?” Eilidh-Mairead asked when they were all out of the door and walking to the shuttlecraft.

“No, he’s the Emissary,” Kasidy said. “A messenger.”

“So he’s an angel then?” She asked, her face twisting in confusion.

Kasidy shook her head. “Do you know about the Bajoran wormhole?”

“It was made by aliens that live inside it and it takes ships to the other side of the galaxy!” Eilidh-Mairead declared proudly.

“Well, those aliens…” how to explain the concept of non-linear time to a four year old? Jake wasn’t sure if you could. “The aliens have the ability to see the future, so the Bajorans began worshipping them as gods – when dad discovered the wormhole ten years ago he spoke to the aliens, so he’s considered their messenger.”

“I think I understand?” it was more of a question than a statement, she didn’t really understand at all.

“We’ll explain it to you when you’re a bit older and it sounds a bit less complicated to you,” Kasidy promised.

“Okay.”

**

“Leeta! Leeta!” she heard her name being called across Quark’s and turned around to see Ezri waving at her. She excused herself from present company and went over to her friend, pulling a chair up at the table.

“Hey,” she grinned. “It’s been a while.”

“Hey yourself. How are you?”

“Yeah I’m good, I have a school.”

“A school?” Ezri took a sip of her drink.

“On Ferenginar, a woman teaching a bunch of Ferengi children how to read and write, not something you ever thought you’d hear about, huh?”

“No. I’m happy for you,”

A waiter came over and they ordered a tray of nuts and crisps to snack on.

“I see you’ve been promoted,” Leeta observed.

Ezri nodded and looked down. “Two years ago, not long after the last time you were here, actually.”

“Congratulations, Lieutenant Commander.”

“Thank you,”

Their food appeared, and a refill of their drinks.

“This looks good,” Leeta eyed the food. “I’m so hungry.”

“Why didn’t you order a meal?” Ezri asked, taking one of the plates and filling it up from the tray.

“I’m having dinner with Rom and Nog later. Don’t want to spoil my appetite.” Leeta explained, filling up her own plate.

“Fair enough.” Something caught Ezri’s attention by the door and she waved again, and Leeta turned around to see Nerys and Odo heading in their direction.

“I didn’t expect Odo to be here,” Leeta said. “It’s nice that they’re reunited.”

“He’s not back for good, but I know Nerys was really excited about seeing him.”

“Aren’t you? I thought you considered him a close friend.”

“Jadzia did, I never really had a chance to get to know him before he left.”

“Jadzia’s memories weren’t enough?” Leeta asked. There was a pause, and she thought perhaps she shouldn’t have said that. Leeta and Quark had been the only ones of Jadzia’s friends – beside Captain Sisko, because he’d known Curzon and already gone through the disorientated phase – who hadn’t felt uncomfortable when Ezri had come along, and Leeta sometimes forgot that. “Sorry, I…”

“No, it’s okay, it’s just that –” but before she could finish her sentence, Nerys and Odo sat down beside them.

“Hi,” Nerys said. “It’s good to see you again, Leeta.”

“Hey, same to both of you,” Leeta nodded to Odo, who reciprocated the gesture.

**

Felix had never been to Deep Space Nine before. In fact, he hated travelling, but Julian was one of his oldest friends so he couldn’t not come for the wedding. They wandered together along the promenade, the last part of the tour Julian had just given him – Julian had kept getting mixed up when he discovered something had changed since he’d been here, and Felix found it decidedly funny. Eventually they stopped in front of a brightly lit shop with various musical instruments on display.

“This used to be his clothier,” he sounded almost wistful. “I used to sit in the back room and watch him work for hours.”

“I’m sure you did,” Felix winked, and received an odd look from his friend.

“What does that mean?” He asked, like he didn’t know.

“You ‘ _watched him work’_ , right, you sat there and watched him make and fix clothes?”

“Yes. What else?”

“I get you,” Felix said, but Julian’s brow furrowed and he was starting to think perhaps he didn’t get it. “Wait, you’re saying that _wasn’t_ a euphemism?”

Julian sighed. “We didn’t get together until after he left Deep Space Nine,” he explained.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“No worries. Ah, here comes the person I wanted to introduce you to.”

Felix looked over to where Julian was looking – the entrance to the bar known as Quark’s, from which two men had just emerged and were heading towards them. One of them seemed familiar, but Felix couldn’t place where from.

“This is Reginald Barclay,” Julian gestured to the younger of the two men, who offered his hand. “He’s a systems diagnostic engineer. And this,” he gestured to the older man, “is Vic Fontaine, one of your holographic creations and one of my good friends.”

Felix had to do a double take. The face was coming back to him now, and he realised why he hadn’t been able to place it before.

“How did you get out of the holosuite?” he asked.

“This nifty little thing,” Vic twisted around to display some kind of device stuck to his arm.

“It’s a mobile emitter.” Reg explained. “I was able to transfer his program to it.”

“Ah, that’s so cool!” Felix exclaimed, grinning. “I’m gutted I wasn’t the one to invent that.”

**

Vic Fontaine walking along the promenade had garnered quite a crowd, as most permanent residents of the station had come to know of him since his programme had started being left running twenty-six hours a day for the most part, but eventually the crowd had dispersed and Julian had managed to escape, leaving Vic and Felix to get acquainted, and returned to his quarters.

Garak was sitting on the sofa reading when he got back, and Ulaya was sitting on the floor doing a jigsaw.

“Look what I discovered in the replicator, dad!” the girl said as soon as he walked through the door. “It’s a puzzle game that originated on Earth, your homeworld!”

It was nearly complete, and this particular jigsaw had a picture of a cat on it.

“That’s a beautiful creature, what is it called?”

“It’s called a cat,” Julian told her, sitting down on the sofa and resting his head on Garak’s shoulder. “would you like to see a real one?”

“Yes!” she got up and bounded towards the door.

“Not just now, Ulaya, I’ll take you tomorrow.”

“Okay,” she said, not quite managing to hide the disappointment in her voice, but accepting what he said nonetheless, and returning to the puzzle.

Julian turned his face to nuzzle gently into Garak’s neck, and got a very quiet hiss in response. He reached up to Garak’s book-holding hand and encouraged him to lower it.

“Not in front of Ulaya,” Garak whispered.

“She’ll survive one kiss,” he whispered back, cupping the cheek furthest from him to turn Garak’s face towards his own. They’d had this discussion many times, and still not quite come to an agreement. “she has her back to us anyway.”

With a sigh, Garak relented and pressed his lips to Julian’s. It wasn’t a long kiss, but it had been hours since they’d seen each other so it was a relief anyway. When they parted, they turned to look at their daughter, who was still intently focused on the jigsaw.

“And the planets keep spinning,” Julian whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I give up with chapter lengths.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite a long one.  
> I started having doubts about the rating in this chapter, so I've aged it up one, better safe than sorry!

“The time is 06:00.” The computer announced. Nerys groaned and sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed then pausing and considering just forgetting the fact she was commander of a space station and going back to sleep.

“Computer, lights on.” She commanded, and the room lit up, prompting a muffled complaint from Ezri, who was stirring beside her.

“It’s too early,” Ezri said, having fought her way out of the tangle of blankets. “The lights are too bright.”

“You can have them off again when I go,” Nerys said. “I have a meeting with Doctor Bachmeier in half an hour to discuss the distribution of medical supplies in the Mekrodi system.”

“Duty calls.”

“I’m afraid so,” she went to her wardrobe to retrieve a uniform, got dressed quickly and ordered a raktajino from the replicator. “Do you want breakfast?” she shouted to the bedroom.

“I’ll get some later,” came the response, then Ezri came to the door between the two rooms, heavily draped in blankets. “I had a really good time last night.”

“So did I,” Nerys smiled. “Though I wasn’t expecting the Plomeek soup to be so spicy.”

Ezri laughed. “I know, my mouth was burning for hours.”

“Mine too, thank the Prophets for that ice cream.” They both laughed, then went silent. She downed the rest of her coffee before speaking again: “so, it’s official now, you and I?”

“I’d like it to be, but perhaps we should wait until after the wedding?” _Until after Odo leaves_ was implicit.

“No, I think Odo should know as well,” Nerys always preferred to be more direct. “I wouldn’t be surprised if people already know, to be honest, you know how fast gossip travels on this station.”

“All too well. Okay, we’ll tell people then. We might even catch the bouquet.”

“The what?” Nerys asked, puzzled.

“A wedding custom from Earth, one of the new spouses – traditionally the bride – would throw a bouquet of flowers into the crowd and whoever caught it would be next to marry. Benjamin explained it to Curzon the night before he married Jennifer.”

“I see.” Was Ezri…?

“Don’t worry, I’m joking – I’m not actually proposing to you.”

“Do you know if Julian plans to uphold that particular custom?”

“I don’t know, actually. Perhaps I should convince him that he should.”

**

 Garak was already sitting at their old table – well, as close to their old table as possible, a lot had changed since they had left – when Odo arrived in the replimat.

“Just like old times,” he remarked, as he extending a mug of Tarkalean tea out of his ‘hand’. His dining companion already had a large plate of food in front of him.

“Indeed,” Garak offered him a warm smile. “How are you doing?”

“It is surreal to be in solid form again,” Odo admitted. He hadn’t mentioned this to anyone else as he knew many would be uncomfortable thinking about what it meant, however if anyone would understand it would be the ex-tailor, who simply nodded.

“It is surreal to be getting married.” Garak didn’t elaborate on that, but Odo was sure it had a lot to do with his history with the Obsidian Order and subsequent exile.

“Julian is a very lucky man,” Odo responded, drawing on a comment he’d heard other humanoids make about prospective spouses over the years. “I’m happy for you both.”

“Why thank you, Constable.”

He wasn’t the Constable any more, but he found it pleased him to hear someone refer to him as such, nonetheless. He had missed this. He had missed the interactions he’d had with his friends here on Deep Space Nine, missed the Humanoid way of living. He missed Nerys.

“How is Cardassia?” he asked, trying not to think about the fact that it was his own people that had destroyed it.

“Rebuilding work is going well. It’s far from perfect but we expect the entire population will have a warm home within the next five years at most. Food and power will likely be on ration for at least another ten years.”

“That is a relief. I am truly sorry for what they did. I wish I could say they are as well, but four years is not enough time to change a belief system that has been prevalent for millennia.”

“What use is there in worrying about the past? Many have said we deserved it, and perhaps it is the fresh slate we needed.”

“I didn’t know you were such an optimist.” Odo said, and when Garak didn’t respond: “I hear you’re pretty high up within the new government?”

“I helped Damar lead the Liberation Front – they wanted me to Chair the New Detapa Council!” He shook his head. “In the end I convinced them I would be able to better serve them as the Liaison and Adviser for Marot City.”

“Congratulations,” Odo said. He wasn’t sure if that was really the correct response, but he was lost for anything better to say so he went with it. “Would you care for a drink? I think I should go and say hello to Quark.”

**

“Wait up, old man!”

Ezri stopped walking and turned to see Benjamin heading towards her with a grin on his face.

“Benjamin!” she greeted him when he was only a metre away from him. “I’m just heading to ops, care to accompany me?”

“You bet. Unless you would rather be alone with the Colonel.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ezri asked, she might as well play innocent.

“Oh, I think you know.”

She pretended to think for a moment then shook her head. “Nope.”

“So you don’t remember kissing her in the corridor in your pyjamas outside her quarters this morning?” he asked. “Or completely not seeing me walk past.”

“Odo must be masquerading as me,” she suggested, then admitted the truth. “We’ve been sleeping together for seven weeks, we officially got together last night.”

“I’m so happy for you both, old man.”

“Thanks.” They stepped onto the turbolift.

“How did Odo take the news?”

“I haven’t spoken to him about it yet, and last I heard neither has Nerys.”

They were greeting in ops by the sound of Lieutenant Mendez announcing the station was being hailed by a Klingon ship requesting to dock. “It’s Chancellor Martok,” the young woman said.

“Tell them they’re clear to dock on upper pylon three and send someone to meet them.” The Colonel told her, then turned to where Benjamin and Ezri had just stepped off the turbolift. “Emissary, Commander.” She greeted them, and Ezri thought she heard a passing ensign mutter something about ‘commander my arse’, which she ignored. So people did know.

“I didn’t know Martok was coming to the wedding,” Ezri said when the three of them had retreated to her office.

“I’m guessing it was his condition for allowing Worf some time off,” Nerys explained. “I think he just wanted any excuse to drink some blood wine.” She laughed.

“I think Julian might have invited him.” Benjamin suggested. “They both attended Worf’s path to Kal’Haya, it is traditional to count fellow attendees among one’s friends from that moment on. I consider him a friend as well.”

“I suppose he invited Alexander as well, then?” Ezri asked. It was kind of strange that the boy, who she’d never met exactly, used to be her step-son. “It will be nice to see him again.”

“Looks like it,” Kira was looking out of the window in her office door, through which she could see the three Klingons crossing ops, and she pressed the button to open her door for them. “Welcome back to Deep Space Nine.”

“Is in an honour to be invited back,” Martok declared. “I brought four barrels of the best blood wine for the occasion.”

Nerys shot Ezri and Benjamin a _told you so_ look.

“Curzon and Jadzia drank blood wine,” Ezri noted. “They enjoyed a lot of Klingon cuisine.” _And now I have to live with the memories of how disgusting it is._

“You won’t be indulging, then?” Martok asked her. She shook her head.

“I will,” Benjamin grinned.

“Just don’t let Felix near it,” Ezri advised.

“Who is Felix?” Worf asked.

“An old friend of Julian’s,” Nerys told him. “Quite the party animal. He can’t be trusted with _any_ alcohol, much less the extremely potent Klingon variety.”

“That’s if Julian’s tales of their rampages can be held as accurate.” Ezri added.

“But Vic’s lounge is so _civilised._ ”

“He didn’t create that programme for himself,” Nerys pointed out. “Which reminds me: I’ve got something remarkable to show you. Come with me?”

As the six of them left the office and headed down the steps towards the lift, Benjamin turned to Alexander, who still hadn’t said a word. “How are you doing?”

“I’m – I’m fine, thanks,” Alexander sounded as nervous to Ezri now as he always had whenever Jadzia had spoken to him. “It’s difficult living on a planet almost entirely populated by Klingons and being three-quarters Human, but I’m really trying.”

“You did not try at all when you were a child,” Worf said. “The effort you make now is pleasing, and your understanding of our customs has improved greatly.”

Alexander beamed at that, a decidedly un-Klingon gesture, but Worf ignored it.

They had reached the promenade, and Worf stopped short. “That man looks like Vic Fontaine,” he commented.

“Who’s Vic Fontaine?” Alexander asked.

“A _hologram_.”

“What is he doing out here? _How_ is he out here?”

“I assume this is the extraordinary thing you wished to show us?” Martok enquired.

**

It was nearly midday when Julian woke up. It was strange, not having any responsibilities – he kept expecting a call from the infirmary, then remembering he didn’t work here any more, then in the next instant he expected a call from the hospital he worked in on Cardassia, and remembering he wasn’t currently there either.

He was sure if it was an absolutely desperate emergency situation, they would call on him, but that was unlikely to happen.

Garak was still asleep beside him, but he rolled over anyway and rested his arms on Garak’s chest and pressed his lips to his fiancé’s gently.

“Good morning,” he whispered, then a smile and those startlingly blue eyes opened slowly. “Sleep well?” he asked.

“Slept excellently,” Garak murmured, wrapping his arms around Julian’s back and pulling him closer and kissing him deeply.

They were interrupted by a small gasp and a mutter of “yucky!” and the patter of small footsteps away from the door to their bedroom. With a sigh, they pulled apart and got up. With Ulaya being so young and so disinclined to leave their side or be looked after by anyone else, the amount of sex they had had dropped significantly since they adopted her. Not that they regretted adopting her even for a second, but occasionally it would be nice if…

“I told you it wouldn’t be a problem,” Julian pointed out as they dressed. “she thinks it’s disgusting.”

“That’s not the point.”

“She has to be taught at some point.”

“She will be, when she becomes an adult.”

“Clearly Cardassian teenagers are more disciplined than Human teenagers.”

“She is Cardassian.”

“But her interactions are not limited to Cardassians.”

And again, stalemate.

When they got out into the living area, Ulaya had replicated two plates of beans on toast and placed them neatly on the table.

“Dad!” she bounded over to Julian. “I made us breakfast!”

“Thank you,” he smiled at her. “Didn’t you make some for your father?”

She shook her head. “No, he got up early and went to meet someone called Odo, but I was waiting for you. This replicator thing is really easy to use, can we get one at home?”

A sombre look suddenly filled Garak’s features. “I’m afraid that’s not possible at the moment,” he said. “Make good use of it while we’re here.”

“Why?” she asked, then must have immediately realised Garak didn’t particularly want to talk about it, because she shook her head. “Never mind.”

**

Miles was doing a Sudoku when the door chimed.

“Come in,” he called. The door slid open to reveal Julian, Garak and a Cardassian girl who looked about Molly’s age. He eyed Garak warily, wondering what Julian thought he was doing bringing him to _Miles’_ quarters. That wasn’t important at this very instant, though: this was the first time he’d seen his best friend in four years, and before he knew it he found himself on his feet and hugging him.

“It’s been far too long, Miles,” Julian said, and when he pulled away he was actually crying.

“Don’t start that or you’ll set me off as well,” Miles warned. But it was too late. He pulled Julian into a hug again and they stayed like that for several minutes.

“Come inside, anyway, you’re letting the draught in,” he ushered the three of them inside the room. “Are you going to introduce me?”

“This is our daughter,” Julian said. Miles assumed she was adopted because she was too old to have been conceived after they got together, and also had no Human features. “There’s someone she wants to meet. Is Chester here?”

“Chester?”

“She saw a picture of a cat and I promised I’d show her a real one.”

“Molly!” Miles shouted into the kids’ bedroom. “Can you bring Chester out?”

A moment later his daughter appeared, holding the cat in her arms. When she saw Garak, her eyes widened. “Hello Mr Garak,” she said quietly, then she looked at the other girl. “I’m Molly.”

Julian’s daughter didn’t say anything for a long time, simply stared at Molly, and for a while Miles thought she wasn’t going to, but then she took a tentative step forward. “I’m Ulaya,” she said.

“That’s a pretty name! Do you want to hold Chester?”

Ulaya looked at the cat. “That’s the animal in the picture?” she asked Julian, who nodded.

“Yes, please,” she said to Molly, who enthusiastically passed the cat over, directing her on the proper way to hold him so as not to hurt him.

“Go sit down,” Miles said to Julian and Garak. “I’ll get you something to eat or drink, what would you like?”

“A Tarkalean tea would be nice. I’m mostly confined to Cardassian food while we’re out of replicators,” Julian said.

“I’ll have a Rokassa Juice, please,” Garak said, looking decidedly uncomfortable about the request.

He ordered the drinks from the replicator, and the three of them moved to the sofa.

“It smells awful,” Miles said, looking at the sludgy purple drink that was apparently Rokassa juice, presumably a Cardassian drink.

“You get used to it,” Julian promised.

“I hope so. I’m afraid you just missed Keiko, she took Kirayoshi ice-skating on the holosuite.”

“I’ll catch up with her later,” Julian said, but his attention was on the other side of the room, where the two girls were sitting on the floor and Molly was braiding Ulaya’s hair. “That’s remarkable.”

“She’s very shy,” Garak explained. “She doesn’t tend to make friends.”

“Who, Ulaya?”

“To you she’s Bashir,” Garak said sharply.

“In Cardassian custom, only children call each other by first name if they’re not family,” Julian explain.

“I see,” Miles said. He couldn’t resist a sharp remark of his own. “But she has a Human surname?”

The matter was dropped after that.

“So I’ve finalised the arrangements for your Bachelor party,” Miles told Julian. “Felix helped.”

Julian’s eyes widened “Felix should not be allowed within a light year of those arrangements.”

“I started to get that impression when we started talking about it,” Miles said. “But it’s too late now. Don’t worry, it’s going to be awesome, and we’ve ordered an extra bed for the living room.”

“Bachelor party?” Garak asked.

“Traditionally Earth weddings would see the Bride and Groom, and later the prospective spouses, have pre-wedding parties with their friends separately, sleep separately, and reunite after the wedding. It dates back to a time when they would never have slept together and the wedding night would be their first time.”

“It’s a bit late for that,” Garak commented, and Miles tried really hard not to let an image of these two having sex form in his head.

“I want to uphold the tradition anyway. I thought I had mentioned this.”

“Are you having any Cardassian elements to your wedding?” Miles asked.

“We’ve already had a fully Cardassian ceremony,” Julian told him. “Now we’re having a fully Human ceremony.”

“The main difference seems to be a lot more unruly partying,” Garak remarked.

“Where are you going for your honeymoon?” Miles asked.

“Our what?” Garak twisted his face. “our treacle satellite?”

Apparently the universal translator hadn’t quite picked up on that one, and when Julian said ‘honeymoon’ and Garak nodded, Miles realised his friend must have been speaking Cardassian – it suddenly occurred to him he had no idea what they called their language – the whole time they’d been talking. It stood to reason; with the state the Dominion had left Cardassia in, it was highly probably that translators could not always be relied upon and Julian would have learned how to speak it while he’d been living there.

“It translates as post-wedding holiday,” Julian elaborated. “In short, it doesn’t translate at all. There’s no such thing. But technically this is our honeymoon,” the word sounded different this time, and Miles realised he must be switching between languages. A talent Miles had never had.

“Your wedding is your honeymoon?”

“We don’t have time to be going off to Risa or somewhere, so the honeymoon is following the Cardassian ceremony rather than the Human ceremony, hence the Human ceremony is part of the honeymoon.”

“Okay, I think I follow.” Miles said. Garak left not long after to let the two friends catch up alone, and after talking for an hour they decided to play a game of Backgammon, which Julian won – of course, then Keiko and Yoshi came home and the four O’Briens and two Bashirs had macaroni cheese for lunch, and before they knew it, it was sixteen hundred hours.

On Cardassia, that was late evening, on Earth it was early evening and on Deep Space Nine, which was timed to Bajor’s sun, it was only the middle of the afternoon, but Miles was beginning to feel tired and he could see Julian was as well when his friend stifled a yawn.

Around sixteen thirty, Garak returned, to an emphatic greeting from Keiko who, like Julian. had always liked Garak despite Miles’ objections. In fact, the alacrity with which Julian had taken a liking to the alleged spy was one of the reasons he hadn’t initially gotten along with the doctor. That, and his loud, brash personality, of course.

“Molly is my friend!” Ulaya announced when her father got back.

Molly beamed at this and hugged the Cardassian girl. “Ulaya is my friend too! I want to have a sleepover, please can we?”

Miles looked at Ulaya’s parents for approval, and Julian nodded. “I don’t see why not.”

“What’s that?” Ulaya asked, and Miles guessed that didn’t translate either.

“You sleep here with me and we talk really late and annoy my mum and dad,” Molly explained.

“Absolutely not,” was Garak’s response to that.

“Come on, Garak.” Julian protested. “It’ll be good for her, besides, we need a break,” a hand slipped onto Garak’s leg and Miles wondered if Julian thought he was being discreet, but pretended not to notice. As parents themselves, he and Keiko knew exactly the feeling.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea if annoying parents is the objective.” Garak said.

“That’s not really the objective, it’s just meant to be fun. Kids should have that.” Julian gave Garak a pointed look, which Miles assumed had a deeper meaning than what he could interpret. Garak’s stern expression wavered.

“I – don’t know,” he said, and Miles was sure he was at least part of Garak’s reservations.

“Come on, mate, you’re getting married to my best friend in three days. I think it’s time we put old animosities behind us.” Those were not words he ever imagined himself saying to a Cardassian, but he found himself to be immensely pleased about it.

“We can trust Miles and Keiko,” Julian added.

“I’ll keep my husband in check,” Keiko promised.

“Please, father,” Ulaya begged, and Garak was outnumbered.

“Fine,” he relented. Huge grins spread across the girls’ faces, and also Julian’s, and he slipped his hand into Garak’s.

“We’ll bring her stuff over later,” Julian said. “First we’re going to take full advantage of this situation.”

When Garak turned to the door and heading out into the corridor, Miles winked at his friend and Keiko slapped Miles’ arm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus point to whoever can identify the really tiny Voyager reference


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of worldbuilding going on here. I wanted to give Ulaya a backstory and a bit more depth. It's not entirely fluffy as I'm sure you would expect but I hope you'll love it anyway. My heart is melting.
> 
> Apologies for taking so long to post, I've been really busy and also distracted by my story "Lunch In Hong Kong" which is now complete. There may also be a bit of another delay I'm afraid because I'm off on holiday until thursday/friday, but I'll write when I can during the week.

Ulaya didn’t have many memories of her birth parents. When she had been only three years old they had both died in some accident, and her sister, who was a little older than her but she wasn’t sure by how many years, had looked after her. They had packed a bag with everything they could carry and fled the house – of which the authorities would surely come and take possession.

But people didn’t take kindly to those without family, and certainly not to orphaned children. So they’d had to live in darkened alleyways, scavenging whatever they could. One day when she was five years old, her sister had gone to raid a house which they knew would be empty – they had been planning it for weeks, the family were going away to some important scientific conference that the eldest daughter would be speaking at, her first such appearance.

Ulaya wasn’t allowed to go on these raids, her sister had deemed it too unsafe and her too young, so she had been waiting behind in the shack they were currently living, and when dark fell over the city and her sister had not returned, she went against instructions and went to investigate. As she drew nearer the house she could hear voices so she ducked behind a wall and from her vantage point she could see people in the garden, and among them, her sister, cowering, the bag of goods she had stolen spilled out across the grass.

She did the only thing she could do: turned around and ran before she was noticed. She did packed up, and moved on. She searched and searched but never saw her sister again, but had learned enough from the older girl to continue to survive.

But then she became one of the lucky ones: she was there for the bombardment.

She was six years old. Control of her planet was seized by a man they called Dukat, a man who had aligned himself with a mysterious force they called the Dominion, but then he had been killed – or so Ulaya had presumed, she later learned he had been imprisoned by the Federation – and a man they called Damar had taken over his position. Damar later rebelled against the Dominion, so the Dominion had retaliated by devastating the planet with a weapon more powerful than any other she’d encountered in her short lifetime.

And that made her one of the lucky ones. Because, after the Dominion left, there had been so many deaths that for the first time ever, people began opening these centres called orphanages, a word which had not previously existed in their vocabulary, and it was safe to come out of the shadows. She and all the other children who had previously lived in fear of their lives were now to be protected as with the other children whose parents had been lost in the attack.

They would been taken to these centres, given a warm place to live, given decent food, and eventually be redistributed to be looked after by adults who had no children or had lost their own in the attack. These newly orphaned children were more scared and unsure of themselves than she had been in a long time, so it became the role of children like Ulaya to be there for them and assure them everything would be okay – the role her sister had had thrust on her years ago without even the benefit of the experience Ulaya was able to draw on.

But still, adults terrified her. She’d spent so long running from them, hiding from them, being afraid of them, there was a part of her that didn’t trust them, and there perhaps always would be, even when she herself became one.

There was one adult she felt comfortable around. He wasn’t a Cardassian, and perhaps that helped. He was a doctor who started working at the hospital connected to her orphanage around ten or eleven months after the bombardment.

There were whispers about him: the staff at the orphanage used to talk about how he was surprisingly good at his job, for a man. At first Ulaya thought he didn’t know they said these things, but once she had been asking another child why this was such a surprise and it turned out he had overheard her. She had expected to be reprimanded for saying such a thing, but he had just smiled a kind, warm smile and said things were different in his culture and he could appreciate their surprise, but also knew that they knew they needed help from everyone they could get.

She had grown somewhat attached to him after that, and been overjoyed when he had told her that he and his partner were considering adoption and would she like to come and live with them and become their daughter?

Garak was father, because that was the normal title for a male parent in Cardassian culture, and Bashir was dad because in his culture this was generally the preferred title. They had a word for father as well, but it was considered more formal and tended not to be used so often these days.

She hadn’t warmed to her father as quickly as she had with her dad. He was a naturally intimidating figure and sometimes the way he said things told her of a dark and rather disturbing past. But dad trusted him a great deal and often told her the reasons he loved him, the things father had done that had helped dad through difficult times, and gradually she came to see him as a safe presence she could rely on and she stopped thinking about it.

When they’d decided they wanted to hold a second wedding on the space station where they’d met, she had been thrilled at the prospect of leaving Cardassia for only the second time in her life – the first had been when she was two years old and she could barely remember it or the reason why they’d gone – but also very, very nervous about it.

She had grown used to having a comfort zone again, and she was about to step outside of it.

There were Cardassians on the station, and Humans. There were Bajorans, and a species with enormous ears that she’d never seen before, and there was Dax, who said her species was called Trill and the people with big ears were called Ferengi; and a whole host of other aliens of such wide variety, and it was wondrous. There was a person with floppy grey skin and tiny ears who she’d tried to say hello to, but he hadn’t heard her, probably because of his tiny ears. Dad had told her his name was Morn and he was one of the funniest people he’d ever met; his species was called Lurian. She met a Betazoid and a Vulcan, who both looked very similar to Humans except the Vulcan had pointy ears. And she met some people with blue skin, some of whom had white hair and little sticks coming out of their heads, who her father said were Andorians, and some of whom had no hair, who her father said were called Bolians.

But the most interesting species was a tiny one which she found a picture of on a Human game in the replicator, which her dad called a cat. It was a beautiful creature, and she’d been introduced to one called Chester. Chester was not the same shape as the rest of them. He walked on four legs and when she’d said hello to him he’d made a sound with his mouth which she’d been told couldn’t be translated. Not exactly – the pitch of the sound, the length of the sound, and the accompanying body language could be interpreted, so Chester’s wants and needs could be determined, but actual word-for-word translations were impossible. He also made a sound that was accompanied by a soft, comforting vibration which could be felt if she put her hand on the side of his stomach or two fingers on the front of his neck under his chin, and she thought it was the type of feeling that she could use to help her get to sleep on nights when she was struggling.

Chester lived with a family who were very close to her parents – or at least to her dad – and they had a girl who was only a year older than her, called Molly. Molly showed her how to hold Chester, and she was very pretty. They had become attached to each other instantly, and Molly was the first friend she had had since she had left the orphanage, and she wanted to spend all the time she could with the Human girl, before they both went back to their respective planets, and hoped they would see each other again one day.

They were lying in Molly’s bed with Chester and talking about their homes and their parents, trading stories, and Ulaya found herself thinking about how this was what it used to be like with her sister before their parents had died. She found herself wishing the wedding would never happen so they would never have to go back, and she could stay with Molly and Chester forever.


	6. Chapter 6

The door to Nerys’ quarters looked more foreboding than Odo had anticipated. Prior to four years ago he would have let himself in and been welcomed, and in the latter part of their acquaintance with a kiss usually, if she was already inside. But four years ago he’d left. He’d had to cure his people, he’d had to teach the Founders to trust solids again. But it rang a little hollow now, because a huge part of the reason he’d left, a part that only Garak knew, and only Garak could be trusted to understand, was that that was where he wanted to be.

He’d loved the station, but that was where he’d wanted to be, and the moral obligations that had kept him from that desire had become very thin all of a sudden when the war was over and the one known as the Female Changeling was in Federation custody.

That was alright for his Humanoid friends, because she was the one that they’d witnessed committing the most atrocious acts of the war, but they didn’t quite, couldn’t quite understand that _she_ was only one cog in the machine. _She_ wasn’t an individual they way they thought they saw her as an individual when she was in their form and not in the ocean of the Link.

And he’d used that misdirected belief to justify his actions when he’d abandoned everyone and gone back there. He’d been surprised when he’d been invited back to DS9, because he thought perhaps Nerys would have realised this over the years –

But he was here now, standing all nice and Humanoid outside her quarters, his ‘hand’ hovering over the button which would alert her to his presence and request permission for him to enter.

He pressed the button.

He could hear movement from inside the room, and a moment later the door opened and she was standing, partially dressed, partially hastily-covered up, in front of him.

“Odo!” she sounded surprised. She had probably gotten used to him not being on the station in the last four years. “Come in, come in.”

“I was wondering if you’d like to – “ a momentary pause while the visual cues registered, but apparently his ‘mouth’ was ahead of him. “…get…dinner…” he finished more slowly. There, in the same slightly ruffled state as Nerys, was Ezri Dax. Oh.

“I’d like that,” Nerys said immediately, and Odo wondered if he had misread the cues – it had, after all, been a long time since he’d been around Humanoids. “Do you mind if Ezri joins us as well?”

“Not at all,” He said, and realised it was a lie. It was his own fault, he reminded himself; if he had stayed here on Deep Space Nine, he and Nerys might still be a couple. He had left her, not the other way around. Besides, Jadzia had been a good friend and he should have made more time to get to know her successor – he could make amends for that now. “I’d be delighted if you could join us,” he addressed the Trill.

Both women smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very very short chapter because I wanted to add a message that would also be seen by everyone even if they've already read chapter 5, which I posted hours ago, and this was already written so thought I'd post it...  
> It's just occurred to me to do this. if there are any combinations of characters you want to see interacting (or interacting more) in future chapters, please feel free to mention them in the comments and I'll come up with something.  
> Already planned for chapter [now 7]:  
> -Quark, Rom, Nog, Leeta, Morn, Worf & Martok  
> -Kasidy, Keiko, Molly, Kirayoshi, Ulaya & Eilidh-Mairead  
> -Vic & Felix (plus tribbles)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyyyyyyy I'm back! at long last. the good news is it's gonna be a lot quieter for the next few weeks so I can make up for all the lost time and hopefully get this finished before 2017 rolls around.

It had been a long time since Kasidy had seen Keiko. She and her daughter had lived on Earth for a while with Jake and she’d seen the O’Briens almost every day, but when Benjamin had returned from living in the wormhole she knew there was no way that the Bajorans would accept him living anywhere but on Bajor, so she’d made the decision to move there to be with him, but it had pained her to leave her friends behind.

So, being back on Deep Space Nine had presented the perfect opportunity for both them and their kids to catch up.

“Hey Kas,” Keiko beamed as she opened the door and hugged her friend, then looked at Eilidh-Mairead. “Kirayoshi’s in my room if you’d like to go and get him, I’m sure he’d be happy to see you.”

“Yay!” The girl grinned and bounded past Keiko.

“Come on in,” she said to Kasidy. “Can I get you a cuppa?”

“Some Tarkalean tea would be nice, thanks,” Kasidy smiled. She took off her coat and hung it up on the hooks by the door. “No Molly today?”

“She’s in her room with Julian’s daughter,” Keiko told her. “I didn’t want to send Eilidh-Mairead straight in because Bashir’s quite timid and I didn’t want her to get freaked out.”

“Bashir?” Kasidy was puzzled.

“Garak insisted that Miles and I should call her that. It’s a Cardassian thing.” Keiko explained.

“I see,” the thought of referring to a child by surname was a strange one, but who was she to argue with someone else’s culture? She would oblige by the rules laid down for her. “I’m surprise Garak allowed her to stay here at all, he and Miles were never overly fond of each other.”

“It took some persuading.”

“Will I get to meet her?”

“If Molly manages to talk her into it.” Keiko handed her the mug of tea and took a seat across from her. “How are you, anyway?”

“Pretty good, I got a promotion.”

“A freighter admiral, now?” Keiko laughed.

“Nope, just captain of a bigger freighter. With nearly three times as many people in my crew.”

“That’s excellent news, Kas.”

“What about you, are you still working at the International Institute of Botany?”

“Still head of operations for the San Francisco branch, and I’ve taken up theoretical quantum chemistry as a hobby.”

“Impressive! I could never get my head around that kind of thing.” Kasidy laughed. “I always preferred to paint in my spare time.”

Keiko looked as though she was about to respond, but then Molly’s voice cut through the conversation:

“Come on, it will be okay. Kasidy is lovely, she’s the one I told you about who used to look after me when we both lived on Earth two years ago.”

“If you stay with me,” a quieter voice, which Kasidy assumed belonged to the Cardassian girl.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Molly promised, and both of them appeared in the doorway of Molly’s room, young Bashir holding a sleeping Chester in her arms, clutching him tight, his chin resting a little awkwardly on her ridged shoulder.

“Hello there,” Kasidy smiled at the girl. “I’m Yates-Sisko,” she said, assuming the name thing went both ways. “You must be Bashir.”

Bashir nodded.

“Who are you?” Eilidh-Mairead asked loudly, immediately running over to Bashir, and Kasidy was about to tell her daughter off, but to her surprise the reaction from Bashir was one of enthusiasm, with none of the timidity she had exhibited with Kasidy.

“I’m Ulaya.”

“I’m her daughter, Eilidh-Mairead,” she pointed at Kasidy. “You’re...” living on Bajor, her daughter had not come across all that many Cardassians, probably not enough that she would remember their name.

“I’m Cardassian, yes,” Ulaya suddenly looked nervous – although, admittedly, Kasidy was extrapolating, as she herself wasn’t overly used to reading Cardassian body language.

“Okay,” was all Eilidh-Mairead said, and Kasidy felt a surge of pride. “Do you want to come and play with me and Kirayoshi? We have this Human toy called Lego which is really fun.”

“I told you it would be fine,” Molly took Chester off Ulaya’s hands and released him to the sofa – he immediately jumped down to the floor and went to the replicator and meowed loudly.

The four children went to sit on the floor and play with the Lego, and Keiko went over to the replicator to feed the cat.

“Hey Kas, I was hoping you could do me a favour,” Keiko said.

“I’ll certainly try. What is it?”

“Miles was hoping to hold Julian’s bachelor party here, do you think you and your husband could handle all four children for one night?”

“With Jake helping as well I’m sure we can manage.”

“That would be smashing, thank you.”

**

“What the hell is going on here?” Vic had just arrived in the lounge after going back to his suite for dinner, and now stood frozen in the doorway looking out over the scene. “Why the hell is my lounge filled with pompoms?”

Felix flashed him mischievous grin. “They’re called tribbles.”

Vic glowered. “This better not be another one of your jack-in-the-boxes, the last one almost had me killed!”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” a suitably apologetic-looking grin, but if Vic had learned anything about his new buddy the last couple of days that he hadn’t already learned from Julian, it was that Felix was not easily sheepish. “I truly am,” Felix added, solemn. “I should have thought about that before I made you self-aware.”

“Not holding any grudges, pally. But seriously, the pompoms?”

“Tribbles” Felix corrected. “Don’t look at me, they were here when I got in.”

“Mr Fontaine!” it was the voice of the hotel’s head chef, Jimmy Harris, the slightly screechy tone indicating he was on the verge of panic. “Mr Fontaine, we have a big problem!”

“What would it be?” Vic asked, a horrible feeling he already knew the answer.

“These furry pompom things, they’ve somehow eaten through a quarter of the supplies in my kitchen!”

“Well that answers one question,” Felix said. “They’re part of the programme and not real. That’s a relief.”

Jimmy glared at him. “What are you saying? I am hosting a big event tonight and I don’t have time to be dealing with – ”

“Computer, delete character of chef,” Felix interrupted, and Jimmy disappeared.

“That was rude,” Vic scolded.

“If we can reset the tribble subroutine he’ll go back to the way he was before they invaded his kitchen.” Felix promised.

“Sure hope so,” Vic warned. “So you gonna tell me what the hell a tribble is?”

“Exactly what you see in front of you,” Felix told him. “Born pregnant, lives to eat and reproduce, makes a nice purring sound and likes everyone except Klingons. That’s all there is to know.”

“Right. Except this is supposed to be a twentieth century programme and your little Frankie Eyes thing had to be dealt with accordingly so how did they get _here_? There aren’t any tribbles in the States in the 1960s.”

“Nor anywhere on Earth, they weren’t discovered by Humans until the twenty-third century, so whoever programmed these furry beasts in here has somehow overridden my era-locking subroutines.”

It occurred to Vic then that Felix sounded properly annoyed about this whole situation. Perhaps he was telling the truth about not being responsible for this after all.

“So what you gonna do?” Vic asked.

“Work on the problem until it’s solved then get drunk, and get drunk if I can’t solve it as well.”


	8. Chapter 8

Quiet spells.

Quark hated them.

But he, Rom, Nog, Leeta and his staff were busy getting the bar ready for the wedding, and nobody wanted to get in their way, so nobody was buying anything.

Except Morn, of course. Morn was the most loyal customer he’d ever had.

If he’d had his way he would have sorted the place out the night before, as he had with Worf and Jadzia’s wedding, but Chief O’Brien – well, professor O’Brien, now – had insisted on overseeing the process and he was hosting a party for Doctor Bashir the night before, so the decorations were going up two nights before.

The only other customers, besides Morn, were Worf and Martok. He never thought he’d be relieved to see Klingons in his bar, especially Worf, but they were paying and ultimately that was the most important thing.

“More prune juice, please,” Worf said, slamming his glass on the counter a bit harder than necessary. Well, he was a Klingon.

“Right away,” Quark said, putting the weird flimsy white sheets he was holding back down on the table and went to pour another glass. Broik immediately moved to finish the job for him.

“Why do you drink that?” Martok asked, giving the drink a look of distaste.

“It is delicious,” Worf stated it like it was obvious.

Quark had to agree with Martok on that one. In fact, none of his other customers ever ordered prune juice, not even his Human ones – when Worf had arrived on DS9 he’d been lucky that Quark had had the recipe in his replicators at all. The woman who’d requested it the first time had stayed on the station for two days even before Sisko had arrived and never been heard from again. Then Worf arrived and prune juice was always on the menu.

Quark wasn’t even sure what a prune was.

“I agree with Worf,” Leeta interjected, earning another disgusted look from Martok, and expression which Quark was sure he shared. “I had it once when I was attending a dancing competition on Tellar, I liked it. I’ll have one.”

“Me too,” Rom appeared behind his wife. “It’s good to give new things a try.”

Of course, Morn then wanted one as well.

“Great! Everybody’s drinking prune juice!” Quark flung his hands up into the air then had an idea: “I’ll try it if you do,” he dared Martok, as he poured the four glasses of the stuff for Worf, Morn, Rom and Leeta. The chancellor looked immediately if he was about to say no, then hesitated. Everyone was watching him, waiting for his response, Quark’s hand poised with the bottle over two more glasses.

“Very well,” Martok said after a very, very long pause. Waving two fingers in the direction of the bar, indicating his acquiescence. “But only one glass.”

He poured the rest of the juice and handed out the six glasses to everyone.

“Three,” he began the countdown, looking Martok square in the eye.

“Two,” Leeta said, probably pleased with herself for making this happen.

“One,” Rom said, probably looking forward to trying prune juice far more than he should; his diet was layered with all sorts of fancy Human and Bajoran foods, about which Quark had regularly expressed his disapproval, he wouldn’t be surprised if his dear brother already liked this particular abomination.

“Drink!” Worf declared the beginning of the race; at least, it was a race to Morn, who had tipped back the entire content of the glass in about three seconds flat and was demanding another one– probably an advantage of having multiple stomachs.

Martok wrinkled his nose – a decidedly un-Klingon gesture – and hesitated before taking a sip.

Quark bit the bullet and downed the whole thing, not as quickly as Morn. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, he could barely admit it to himself, but prune juice wasn’t all that bad.

**

“Let me guess, your entire room is chaos?” Nog tried, as he and Jake walked back from the replimat after a rather filling lunch.

“No, just one corner of the living room,” Jake corrected. “Eilidh-Mairead gets the bedroom and I’m sleeping on the couch.”

“And when you say you’re tidying it up, you mean you’re stuffing it all back in your bag.”

“You really think so low of me?” Jake asked, but he was grinning. “Eilidh-Mairead’s on the sofa tomorrow night with Yoshi, and her bed’s going to Molly, and Julian’s daughter, so I’m on the floor.”

“Why?” Nog asked.

“Miles and Felix are hosting a raucous party for Julian in the O’Briens’ quarters, so we’re looking after the kids and Bashir refused to leave Molly’s side so she’s staying with us too.” He must have seen the confused expression on Nog’s face, because he elaborated: “I’m an adult and not close enough to the family to be allowed to refer to her by her given name under Cardassian tradition.”

“Ah. I thought you and Julian were really good friends, though?”

“We are, but it doesn’t work like that.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I don’t entirely, either, but I’ll respect their tradition nonetheless.”

They had reached the Yates-Sisko’s quarters, and Jake keyed in the code to the door. “You coming in?” he asked.

“Sure,” Nog patted his friend on the back: “it’s not like I have anything better to do.”

“It’s cool, it’s not like I have anyone better to invite over anyway.”

Kasidy was already inside, sitting on the sofa reading a book. “Oh hey Jake, Nog,” she bookmarked her page and put it down on the coffee table. “Did you hear what happened at Vic’s?”

“No?” Nog felt his stomach tighten. Please not another incident like the Frankie Eyes one. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine, just a bit pissed off,” Kasidy laughed, and Nog relaxed. “Someone programmed the lounge to be filled with tribbles, which neither Felix nor Miles have been able to delete.”

Jake burst out laughing, and wiped his eyes before speaking. “Poor Vic. I remember when the defiant came back from a mission and inundated the entire promenade with those things. They were cute, sure, but I couldn’t get a decent meal for a week.”

“Is Reginald Barclay still here?” Nog asked. “If anyone can solve the problem it will be him.”

“He’s working on it now,” Kasidy told them.

There was a pause in conversation, then: “Hey, Jake,” Nog said. “Rather than sleeping on the floor, why don’t you, how do you put it? _Crash_ on our couch tomorrow night? I’m sure my dad and moogie would be happy to spend some time with you.”

“I appreciate the offer, Nog,” Jake turned to Kasidy. “What do you think, can you and dad handle four children without me?”

Kas laughed. “I looked after my little brother, and I worked in a nursery for a year; and your dad looked after you, I hear you were quite the handful. I’m sure we’ll manage.”

Jake slapped his hands on his chest in what Nog had come to realised was associated with mock offence. “Very well, then I will, thank you Nog.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for yet another delay. i couldn't get into the zone.  
> I've noticed Lwaxana, Iskha and Zek are sadly missing from the story, but I can't really find a way to fit them in now sadly.


	9. Chapter 9

Odo loitered on the second level of the Promenade, looking over the entrance to Chez Zimmerman’s pub and restaurant, where he was due to meet Nerys and Dax in a few minutes. He was disguised as Kgerrna, the cat that lived with the current chief of security; he didn’t want to be noticed, he wanted to observe.

And observe, he did: he watched as the two women stepped out of the turbolift, hand in hand, he watched as they walked across to the pub and as they stopped outside, Dax said something that Nerys found funny, the sound of her velvety laugh carrying across to where Odo was standing.

He observed as the two leaned into each other and kissed chastely, and even from his distance he could see the love sparkling in Nerys’ eyes when she opened them, and it struck him just how happy these two were together.

Who was he to intervene? Perhaps he should cancel their meal, leave them be.

But no, there was no reason why he and Nerys couldn’t continue to be friends, and he had vowed in Jadzia’s honour to get to know Ezri. Taking a deep facsimile of a breath he transformed into a bat and flew down to meet them, taking up his humanoid shape upon landing.

He hadn’t worn the appearance of a tuxedo. He’d done that when they were dating. No need to rub chilli sauce in the wound.

He’d left her, and truly, he was happy that she was happy again.

“Constable,” Ezri said, a warm smile on her face. Again, it pleased him to hear people still refer to him using that affectionate title.

“Odo,” Nerys’ smile was more awkward, and she nervously smoothed down her dress – blue, this time. She always used to wear red. But both colours suited her.

“Nerys, Dax,” he nodded to both of them, but didn’t smile; he’d been told his attempts at such an expression came across as rather creepy more often than not. Mostly by Quark, but whatever; the others were probably just too polite to say anything.

“Shall we go inside?” Ezri suggested, and they did. They were greeted just inside the door by a waitress, very bouncy and energetic, who introduced herself as Liaur, led them to a table next to the back wall, and took away the fourth set of cutlery.

“Can I get you a drink to start with?” she asked, a lovely lilt to her accent.

“I’ll have an Irn Bru, please.” Ezri said.

“A what now?” Nerys asked. Odo had never heard of it either.

“It’s an Earth drink, rather obscure even there. I think it’s fantastic but I don’t think you’ll like it,” Ezri said, and Odo noted the apparent familiarity with Nerys’ tastes.

She seemed to consider it for a moment, then turned to the waitress: “I’ll stick with springwine, please.”

Liaur nodded and left the three of them in peace. She knew of Odo, knew he didn’t drink. He plucked the old-fashioned-looking laminate menus from the holder in the centre of the table and gave one to each of the two women then pushed the rest into the unoccupied space.

There was silence as the menus were studied.

Very promptly – there were hardly any customers in – another waiter appeared with two large glasses: one with the very familiar looking springwine, and another containing a bright orange liquid that must be Irn Bru. As they were placed on the table, they thanked the waiter and he left.

Nerys picked up the orange drink and took a sip as though it was her own, then made a face.

“It tastes a bit metallic,” she remarked.

“It tastes great,” Ezri laughed, taking a sip, making no move to acknowledge the sharing of glasses.

“You were right that I wouldn’t like it, though.” Nerys took a sip of her springwine. “Eugh.”

“I’m sure with my encouragement it will grow on you.” They both laughed.

Odo remembered a time, not long after Ezri had been joined with Dax and come to the station, she’d been promoted and after the ceremony, he and Nerys had asked her to join them for dinner. She hadn’t wanted to then, hadn’t wanted to be, as humans put it, a gooseberry, but the three of them got on well together and had a fantastic evening. Earlier that night, Odo had had similar reservations: now Nerys was with Ezri instead of him, and he had expected to be the gooseberry, but as he watched the two interact he realised that worry was seeping away. They were happy, and he was happy for them. He had the Link now, and they had each other.

The rest of the evening was passed in easy conversation as they talked about life on the station, life in the Link – and Odo alleviated some of Nerys’ worries because no, the Founders did _not_ know everything he knew about her – and he and Ezri talked about what it was like to be a shapeshifter; he had almost forgotten, she had Curzon’s memories of being a shapeshifter after he was embodied by Odo during Jadzia’s zhian’tara.

And he realised that he no longer loved Nerys – well, Kira as he supposed he’d better return to calling her – he still considered her a dear friend, but perhaps in the onslaught of feelings and confusion upon returning to the station, somewhat akin to walking into a wall, he had mistaken the memory of love for love he still felt. It was better this way, though.

**

The quarters of the Yates-Siskos were more decorated than that of the O’Briens. They had a permanent living space here as well as their home on Bajor, so they had more time to add a personal touch, but the O’Briens were only here for a few days so they hadn’t brought many things with them, and hadn’t fully unpacked.

They’d brought Chester with them, because, Molly had explained, he was a part of the family as much as any of them. Ulaya thought she would like a cat, and planned to ask her parents about it when they were back on Cardassia.

She met Emissary Yates-Sisko for the first time when O’Brien had taken her, Molly, Yoshi and Chester over to stay with them. He was an imposing presence, but in a kind way, and he reminded her of the leaders of the Ancient Hebitians she’d read about in a book from the library at the orphanage. His tone was soft and gentle, but firm like he was someone not to be messed with. Standing in front of him, she could understand what her dad had meant when he had told her that when Yates-Sisko, then known as Sisko, had been captain of the station, he had been like a father figure to all of his officers.

“You two are sleeping in my room,” Eilidh-Mairead told Molly and Ulaya, pointing to the door behind her and beaming widely, proud to be of service.

“Where are you sleeping?” Ulaya asked her.

“In here,” she said, pointing to the sofa, “With Yoshi.”

“Are you sure?” Ulaya found she felt guilty about usurping the girl’s bed.

“It’s fun sleeping in here,” Eilidh-Mairead assured her. “I want to.”

“Then in that case, thank you for your sacrifice.”

The younger Human girl scrunched her face. “What’s a sacrifice? It sounds bad.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Molly interrupted. “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

Eilidh-Mairead gave out a little huff, but let the matter slide.

**

Benjamin couldn’t sleep. It was still the middle of the afternoon, but he’d had a headache all day. Perhaps he should be visiting the infirmary, but he had thought a steaming hot mug of herbal tea and a few hours shut-eye in a dark room would have done the trick.

But to no avail.

Kasidy had gone out, Keiko had wanted to show her the ice-skating holosuite programme she’d brought with her, and he thought perhaps he’d better check on the kids.

He got up, dressed and went to the door, leaning against the frame as he watched them play, the four of them sitting on the floor with the disassembled parts of a train track scattered around them.

“Mine do it all the time,” Eilidh-Mairead was saying.

“So do ours,” said Yoshi, waving his hand between himself and his sister.

Benjamin couldn’t help but wonder what they were talking about.

“Mine don’t” Bashir said. “Well at least, not when they think I can see.”

“It must feel weird.” Molly said.

“It looks icky,” Yoshi said, twisting his face in disgust, and Bashir nodded.

“They must like it or why would they do it?” Eilidh-Mairead offered.

Ben was starting to get a feeling of what they were talking about it.

“Well, maybe… it’s not _too_ bad,” Bashir was looking at Molly, who looked back at her and smiled more shyly than Ben had ever seen her.

“Why don’t we try it?” Molly suggested, and Yoshi made vomiting sounds.

“Uh…” Bashir was hesitant, but then leaned forward and gently pursed her lips against Molly’s cheek. Her friend then reciprocated the gesture.

“Usually they do it like…” Eilidh-Mairead pointed at her lips with both of her forefingers, and Bashir shook her head.

“I’m not doing that,” she said with an air of finality.

It was sweet, Ben thought, and caught himself smiling. Then the young Bashir’s words rang through his head: _mine don’t do it when they think I can see._

_Shit._

It was perfectly normal for Human kids to experiment with that kind of thing, but in watching the sweetness of the girls interact it had slipped his mind that one of them _wasn’t_  Human… but she _did_ have a Human parent… but they lived on Cardassia, and perhaps there…

Should he mention this to Julian and Mr Garak?

It wasn’t any of his business to be interfering though… but they might like to be aware…

Perhaps he should talk to Julian alone…

He turned it over in his mind for at least half an hour before he came to a decision.

**

“She did _what?_ ” There was shock written all over Garak’s face.

He was sitting in Quark’s with his husband-to-be, having a late lunch. Doctor Bashir had received a call from Sisko requesting a moment of his time, and he’d just got back. Thanks to Quark’s brilliant Ferengi ears, he could hear their conversation from the bar, and was getting an inquisitive look from Morn.

“It’s no big deal,” Julian said. “Sisko just thought we might want to know.”

“Damn right we want to know, we –“

His eavesdropping was cut off by a complaint from Morn that he wasn’t getting filled in on the action.

“Alright, alright!” He turned to the Lurian. “I’ll tell you: their daughter kissed Molly O’Brien on the cheek,”

A wide-eyed look from Morn, who knew Cardassians and their customs as well as Quark.

“I did warn you of the dangers of –”

His ability to focus on what Garak was saying was again restricted.

“Morn! Give them a chance to get a sentence out!” Quark snapped. Time to intervene. He was a bartender, he got to do that. He picked up a tray and put some drinks on it, and made his way over to the quarrelling couple’s table, leaving behind a frustrated Lurian.

“I told you we should be more careful,” Garak was insisting.

“It was harmless! Kids do that all the time.” Julian looked annoyed. Garak opened his mouth to speak but Julian held up a hand to stop him. “We’ve had this discussion before.”

“She’s ten years old!” Garak protested, “by far too young to start becoming intimate with people.”

“She didn’t even want to kiss Molly on the lips, she’s not going to start having sex with her!” Julian said that perhaps a little too loudly, because a few people at nearby tables were starting to take notice of the argument.

“Didn’t you say that your friend Mr O’Brien said they’d been sharing a bed too?” a lot more quietly than his partner.

“Limited bed space,” Julian muttered, his head in a hand. People around them had gone back to their own conversations. “But again, that is a normal practice for Human kids, and Molly _is_ Human, remember."

“Gentlemen, gentlemen!” Quark stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself to them. “Are we going to have to call off the wedding?”

“No!” they spoke simultaneously and both whipped their heads to give Quark a sharp look, as though he’d said the most ludicrous thing they’d ever heard. Then, looked at each other, and Julian took Garak’s hands in his own, Quark forgotten.

“I’m sorry, just…” Julian said. “Let’s just give Ulaya the talk, to be on the safe side.”

“Perhaps you are right,” Garak agreed. It wasn’t an apology, exactly, but it _was_ a concession, and Quark got the feeling that was the closest Garak ever got, especially in public. He was even surprised the Cardassian had got that far.

Julian leaned over the table and kissed Garak’s hands once before leaning his head against them, still joined to his own, and closed his eyes. “Are you still here Quark?” He asked.

“I’m sorry, but it looks to me like I’ve just solved your argument for you.”

“You shouldn’t have been eavesdropping to begin with.”

“Then don’t fight in my bar,” Quark protested, but he knew that Julian and Garak knew as well as he did that he always paid more attention than he should to private conversations that didn’t concern him, so it was an empty argument. He thought briefly about reminding him of that time Julian asked Quark to help him listen to Kira and Miles arguing when she was carrying the O’Briens’ baby, but Garak was giving him a _look_ and all in all he decided it would be safer to retreat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Penultimate chapter, YAY! I'm really excited about this, and it's another bit longer one. I had the final chapter planned for a while, but I didn't know how many would come before it or exactly how the others would play out, but now my plan is complete. I hope you're all still with me and enjoying it :)
> 
> Chapter 10 will be posted on 29/12/16, most likely.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last chapter! I’m so happy about this, I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It’s also almost certainly the longest, which is something I had planned to do. I hope it’s a worthy finale.
> 
> I know obviously there are a lot of very different wedding customs that developed on earth as well, but I think in reality it would be the same on all these alien planets too, and I had to do something so I just went with what I knew!

Part I

“Mmm, don’t go,” Elim murmured into his shoulder, and at that moment he wanted nothing more than to acquiesce, to curl up around his lover and go to sleep, but…

“I live with you, my dear. I hardly ever see Miles, and he’s put a lot of work into this party, I’m sure.”

“Very well,” he said, but wrapped his arms even tighter around his body.

“Elim!” Julian scolded, and with great effort forced himself to pull himself out of the other man’s grip. “I’ll see you tomorrow for _our wedding._ ” He ran through the sonic shower and put on a fresh set of clothes, stuffing a few overnight things in a bag to take to the O’Briens’ – his suit for the next day was already there, he’d given it to his friend as soon as they’d arrived on the station.

He leaned over and pressed a kiss to the ridges at the bottom of Elim’s ear – the one that wasn’t pressed to the pillow – “I love you,” he whispered, stroking that lovely silky black hair. “don’t sleep all through the evening.”

“I love you Julian,” came the muffled response. “Don’t get too inebriated.”

He laughed. “With the help of a few anti-intoxicants and a steaming raktajino I’m sure I’ll be nice and sober by the morning, don’t you worry.”

**

The music in the O’Briens’ quarters was loud and lively, and most of the invitees had already arrived by the time Julian got there.

“Here’s the man of the hour!” Felix shouted not five seconds after he stepped through the door, the already very tipsy man thrusting a glass of something at him and clapping him so hard on the back that it almost spilled. “My friend Julian everyone!”

Some people were paying attention, some went so far as to offer a hesitant cheer, and other were completely ignoring them. Not that Julian minded, the night was yet young.

“Hey,” Miles came over to him, “can I take that?” he held out a hand and it registered that he still had his bag draped over his shoulder. “I’ll put it in the safe zone.”

“Sure, thanks,” he handed over the bag, assuming the safe zone was the main bedroom, to which the door was firmly shut.

“So, I hear the wedding was nearly called off?” Miles said when he came back.

“And I supposed the story goes that Quark swooped in and saved the day?” Julian suggested, and Miles looked sheepish. “There was never any chance of that happening. It was a stupid argument, really, we both ultimately had the same concern. Besides – ”

“Let me guess: besides, you love him more than you’ve ever loved anyone and you can’t begin to imagine living your life without him now.” Miles finished, and Julian flushed.

“You might have mentioned it once or twice,” he shrugged it off like a conversation about the weather.

“To be fair to Quark,” Julian lowered his voice, apparently not wanting anyone else to hear, which made sense if he was about to compliment the busybody bartender. “it might have gotten a little more out of hand if he hadn’t spoken when he did. He made us both realise we were being silly.”

“Garak, being silly,” Miles scoffed. “So then you went back to your quarters to kiss and make up for three hours and that’s why you’re positively glowing.”

Julian looked around him in a way rather reminiscent of a certain man he was soon to marry, and leaned forward conspiratorially. “I tell you, that man’s got stamina.” He winked.

“That’s enough, Julian.” And they both laughed.

“Doctor,” Odo came over to him, looking visibly more relaxed than he had when he’d arrived on the station a few days ago. “How are you doing? I’m sorry we haven’t had a chance to properly catch up yet.”

“I understand, you’ve been preoccupied.” Julian’s gaze flicked to Kira, on the other side of the room. “We still have tonight, tomorrow and the day after.”

“I look forward to that,” Odo said.

The doors slid open to reveal Ezri and Quark, the latter of whom was muttering under his breath.

“I beat him at tongo again,” Ezri explained.

“Cleaning me out,” Quark grumbled. “Next thing you know she’ll be trying to win the bar.”

“That’s a good idea,” Ezri laughed. “I’m sure I’d be better at running it. Bring in a greater profit.”

Quark glared at her, and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a sudden blast of music, and everyone looked over to see Morn at the controls, having turned up the volume, and declared that nobody was partying hard enough. Felix whooped.

Morn pulled Nog to his feet, and the two reprised the dance that Nog had invented at Jadzia’s party.

-

Vic felt singularly unsure how to behave in this environment, and he stood watching as people got more and more drunk on a whole host of alien drinks he’d barely heard of and never served in his lounge, many of them far more potent than he could have imagined, and listening to music he could never have dreamed up in a million years.

But he thought maybe it was an environment he could get used to. Maybe he could have a… how did they call it? _Metal_? Maybe he could host a metal night in the lounge once in a while… probably not. His clientele likely did not have the adaptive programming to appreciate it the way he did. Perhaps Felix would rectify that…

Unconsciously he found himself beginning to tap his foot.

-

At twenty-one hundred hours, Miles and Keiko brought trays out of the bedroom and laid out a buffet on the table which lined one of the walls. Within half an hour, most of it was gone.

The music was changed to something a bit better for dancing to. It was some traditional Betazoid dance music that Deanna had shared with the Enterprise crew at one of the birthday parties she threw for Riker, which Miles had taken an instant liking to, and judging by the reactions of the assembled party-goers here on Deep Space Nine, this was not uncommon.

The noise level rose at least fifteen decibels, Quark observed.

There wasn’t a single person not dancing, and combined with the levels of drinking, the O’Brien’s quarters were becoming far too small, but that only added to the upbeat atmosphere.

“Time for the show!” Felix yelled, though few people heard him above the noise of the music and everyone else singing and chatting. Miles and Keiko exchanged a glance. They didn’t book anyone to give a performance?

Sweeping aside the empty plates on the end of the table, Felix climbed up on top of it and began singing – very loudly, and _very_ out of tune. It was a Risian party song, not at all similar to the Betazoid ballad currently playing over the speakers, so someone turned it off. Someone else Julian didn’t recognised picked up a musical instrument – also of Risian origin, and began to accompany Felix.

Four more people armed with musical instruments joined Felix and the first musician on the table. None of them were co-ordinated with each other in their drunken state, but nobody in the room was sober so everyone enjoyed it anyway.

**

“I should oo it! I shoullear to play eh Vulcan Lyre!” Ezri declared, slurring her speech and walking in zig-zags through the corridor, intermittently leaning on Odo for support.

“Then by all means, go for it,” Odo’s speech incapable of being impaired by alcohol, which he was incapable of consuming. He’d been wondering why Garak wasn’t there and decided to pay him a visit. He’d told Ezri, the nearest person to him, he was doing that, and she’d decided to come along.

“I will forreal, tomrrow I’ll reclipate one.” Her forehead creased. “Repiclate one.” The started babbling in Trillic, apparently too far gone for the universal translator to pick up on one she was saying.

“You do that,” Odo said, for want of something better.

They had reached Julian and Garak’s quarters, and Odo pressed for entry.

“Or maybe… one from buying…” a few words were coming through the translator. “the Melinda’s” ah yes, the music shop which had replaced Garak’s clothier four years ago.

“Constable, Commander!” Garak greeted them when the door opened. “Come in!” he was dressed in what could very likely be sleepwear, and Odo felt somewhat awkward at being in the room, and surprised that Garak seemed totally relaxed about it. He’d probably not have been caught dead in a relaxed state when he’d lived here.

“Can I get you something, Dax?” he asked, taking in her inebriation. “Tea, perhaps?”

“Thank you, no… dreaming of… cheese sandwich.”

“You’d like a cheese sandwich?” Garak asked, going over to the replicator.

“No… Tobin… magical living… mushroom… Emony.”

Garak looked at Odo for help, and he shrugged. “Next version of the translator needs to have a setting which takes alcohol into account.” He said.

She set herself down on the sofa and rested her head on the arm, closing her eyes. ”Don’t mind me.”

“What can I do for you, anyway, Odo?”

“I just thought I’d come by and see how you are, since you weren’t at the party.”

“Spending the night before the wedding apart is significant in many cultures we’ve encountered. Besides, I didn’t much feel like partying.”

“I doubt you will regret that decision,” Odo said. Just before he’d left, Felix had removed all clothes from his torso and arms, and from Odo’s understanding of Cardassian values they strictly did not appreciate public nudity of any extent.

“Is the party a flop?” Garak asked, and Odo had to do a double take at his use of what Odo had been sure was mainly a Human use of the word.

“No, it’s great, everyone’s having a lot of fun, I just don’t think it would be your style.”

“Is that a challenge, constable?” Garak gave a small smile that had to be described as sly.

“So how have you spent the evening so far?” Odo asked, unsure how to respond to the previous comment.

“I spent some time with the Sisko-Yates – now that _was_ a surreal experience. I wouldn’t exactly consider them friends.”

“Your daughter’s there.” Odo supplied.

“She was so happy there, I…” Garak faltered, also unusual for him, and Odo didn’t press the matter.

“Are you all ready for tomorrow?”

That earned him a look of incredulity. Imagine, Garak not being thoroughly prepared (some may say over-prepared, but not Odo) for something. “I’ve spent some time brushing up on how things are going to go tomorrow. I understand I have to give you the ring I got for Julian for you to give back to me to give to him at the ceremony?”

Garak had asked Odo to be his best man. _“You’re the obvious choice,” he had said, and if Odo had had a heart it would have fluttered. He had once, albeit briefly, had a heart, and he knew all too well what that sensation felt like. “You were my first friend on the station, besides him.”_

_“I’d be honoured,” Odo had said, and immediately gone away to learn every detail of what that entailed._

 “Yes, perhaps better to wait until the morning though. I intend to go back to the party and I wouldn’t want it getting lost.”

“Good idea. Rings are so impractical,” Garak had rolled up his sleeve and tracing a finger over the swirling lines inked there. “They could easily get lost or stolen, or be removed.”

Humans traditionally exchanged rings, Bajorans exchanged bracelets. Many different cultures exchanged forms of jewellery as a sign of marriage, however Cardassians, ever practical, were among those which had opted for markings on the skin. Odo had witnessed a few of their ceremonies during the occupation: the two being married would hold out their hands, palm facing upward, linked only at their thumbs, as the Rite Imparter tattooed matching patterns on the inside of the wrist, with one line extending up the thumb to meet the other person’s thumb. Once this was done they would be allowed to clasp hands, marking the completion of the ceremony.

 “Julian’s not going to let any of those things happened,” Odo said, receiving a sharp look for his assurances.

“I know.”

**

It was twenty-four forty-five hours by the time Odo finally got back to the party, but it was still going as strong and Felix was down to his underwear.

Ezri had fallen asleep on Garak’s sofa, and was still a little drowsy, so had been leaning heavily on Odo as they walked back to the O’Briens’, to the point she was practically being carried by him. He’d strongly recommended she let him take her home so she could get some rest, but she had insisted she wanted to go back.

When they got in, Jake was in the middle of trying to order some water from the replicator – which was refusing to understand what his alcohol-impaired speech was trying to convey. When he eventually succeeded and had it half raised to his lips, Morn snatched it out of his hand and threw the contents of the glass in Ezri’s face.

 _That_ woke her up, and she wiped her hands across her face and through her hair to get rid of the drips. Morn took her by the hand and dragged her into the centre of the room, encouraging her to dance, to which end she obliged.

**

By zero three hundred, the party was finally starting to die down a little. Quite a few people had left and those who remained were mostly sitting down on the sofas or on the floor. There was some quiet music playing, and even Felix, the only person still on their feet, only seemed to be managing a gentle sway.

People were leaving in dribs and drabs, until eventually it was only Keiko, Miles and Julian left. Somehow, they had managed to sober up just enough to get the fold-up spare bed out of the cupboard and set it up, and Julian had collapsed on top of it, fully clothed, and fallen asleep instantly. Miles had laid a blanket over him before retiring to bed himself.

 

~

 

Part II

“The time is zero nine hundred hours,” The computer announced with a rude beep.

“Shut up,” Miles told it, his head was banging. “I’m sleeping.”

“Get up, Miles,” Keiko was already up, and yanked the quilt off.

“Cold!” he protested, practically howled. “Give back.”

“You need to get up and get ready to be best man for Julian,” Keiko said in her commanding not-taking-no-for-an-answer voice.

“Five minutes.” He murmured. Keiko sighed.

Six minutes later, he was sitting on the sofa, drinking a tall glass of orange juice loaded with detoxifiers, with Julian sitting next to him and doing the same thing.

“My _head_ ,” his friend complained.

“I would never have been this drunk on the Enterprise.” He didn’t know whether he meant that as a good thing or a bad thing. “Felix has quite a nice body, don’t you think?”

“I did once.”

“What, you mean you don’t find me attractive any more?” There was a knock on the inside of the cupboard, and Felix and Morn fell out of it, both stark naked. “And here I thought I –”

“Whoa you two, put something on!” Miles interrupted, grabbing blankets off the bed where Julian had slept and chucked them across the room.

“I thought you said I’m hot?” Felix protested but wrapped one of the blankets around himself anyway.

“I don’t need to see the whole picture! And I – ” he glanced in Morn’s direction and cut himself off. Once they’d left, he turned to Julian: “any more? Did you and Felix –“

“Only once. Felix does one-night stands, he doesn’t do relationships. Then I met Palis.”

“Your ballerina?”

“Yeah… don’t want to talk about her.”

“Of course you don’t,” Miles said. “today’s your wedding day. How do you feel?”

“My second wedding day,” he was looking at the tattoo on his wrist, which Miles had been meaning to ask him about. “This is from the Cardassian ceremony,” he explained pre-emptively. “they don’t do jewellery as I’m sure you can imagine.”

“Is it permanent?”

“I sure as hell hope so.”

**

Technically speaking, Sisko was still legally able to perform Federation wedding ceremonies. But that was a very wide category which included a variety of different species with some _very_ different ways of doing things. Most recently this included Bajoran ceremonies, since they had officially become a Full Member World two years ago when Sisko had returned from the Prophets.

He had retired his Starfleet uniform and taken on the role of Emissary full time, which meant that he almost exclusively performed Bajoran ceremonies, which now meant that the role of marrying Bashir and Garak fell to the current commander of Deep Space Nine, who ironically was a Bajoran. But he and Miles had spent plenty of time with Kira, explaining how Human ceremonies worked, and helping her practise what she had to say.

He was confident she would do a perfect job.

The replimat was a strange choice of venue to hold a wedding, for sure. Most were held in the Bajoran Shrine or at Quark’s, and sometimes members of the crew would marry in the wardroom. But, the replimat was where they’d first met, so Julian had been quite insistent apparently, and Kira had seen no reason not to allow it. The reception, however, would be at Quark’s.

Most of the guests were seated, though a few still milled around. He stood with Kira at the ‘altar’ – or so to speak, religion had died out on Earth a long time ago, but some words had stuck around in Humans’ vocabulary, mostly out of habit.

Kasidy sat with Keiko and the children in the front row. Their eyes met and he smiled at her. She was so wonderful and he was so lucky to have her.

There wasn’t _really_ and aisle. Not really. There weren’t enough people here, and neither Julian nor Garak had wanted to walk up one. Jake had suggested having two, but in the end it had been decided upon having a series of makeshift screens, setting the podium in front, and that Julian would step onto the stage from the left, and Garak from the right.

(~)

_The sun was shining, and it was warm. Well, it was relatively cool for Cardassia, but it was one of those temperatures that just feels right, no matter what. And it wasn’t too hot. By now Julian had fully acclimatised to this planet’s humid heat, but he still appreciated that cool warmth with the sun on your back and a breeze on your face, rare as it was here._

_They were walking in Hokra Park, the only such park in Marot which had been restored to its full former glory since the bombardment three years prior. One park per county, had been the decree which had been made –_ with _the full support of all of Cardassia’s citizens. They couldn’t afford to waste resources restoring all of them, not yet, but having at least one accessible to everyone would do wonders to boost their spirits._

_Ulaya ran ahead of them, an unusual behaviour for a Cardassian child but one Julian had suggested would be fine as long as she remained within earshot and where they could see her. Elim had agreed, on the condition that she not try to ford the river, as she had once before. She had an unruly streak – years of living by her own rules without the guidance of a parent meant that she had to adapt to doing what she was told again, and that would take time. Julian had said that she would learn this quicker if given some leeway, and so far he’d been absolutely correct._

_“I still think that if Lieutenant Merrick had found the bomb before Annie did, then they could have won the battle and prevented the war,” Julian was saying. “Annie’s loyalty was always in question. When she deactivated it, it allowed Sub-Commander T’Vera enough time to escape with proof of Legate Rusok’s involvement in the conspiracy. Don’t you think?”_

_They were discussing one of the many novels that had been found in what had been left of the old government archives, stored under contraband, which had since been released to the populace. But Elim wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying. They had lived on Cardassia together for more than two years now, but they had barely discussed a single novel. They hadn’t had time, hadn’t had energy. But now, things were settling down._

_Now, they were discussing this story and despite the dark lines under Julian’s eyes – or bags, as he’d called them – he was animated and he looked more vital and alive than ever. This, the discussion of literature, was what they had built their relationship on, and it stood to reason that this, the discussion of literature, should be…_

_“What do you think?” Julian prompted._

_“I think you should marry me.”_

_“What?” Julian looked like he’d been knocked off kilter, and Elim suddenly had this dreadful horrible feeling that perhaps he’d taken it a step too far. Well, he’d said it now._

_“I said, I think we should get – ”_

_“Married.”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Yes.”_

_“What?” it was stupid, that he’d started expecting to be rejected now, after they’d known each other for nine years, after revealing that they loved each other, spending a year apart and loathing every minute of it, after Julian had moved to a skeleton of a planet to be with him and was still here two years later, and after adopting a daughter together. It was stupid to think that Julian would not have agreed that marriage was the next step. It just went to show how deeply ingrained Elim’s self-doubt and paranoia really were._

_“Of course I’ll marry you, silly.” Julian was looking at him with that expression, the expression he knew he shared, that he knew translated as ‘I want to kiss you, and so much more’ but they were in public, so they settled for the customary pressing of flattened hands, but a single word hovered between them, a promise:_ later.

(~)

“We’re ready here,” Odo said, sticking his ‘head’ around the side of the screen with a nod to Kira. The guests all took note of this and a whisper circulated the room, passing the message on quickly. They were seated, facing forward and quiet within two minutes.

Nerys stood in front of the podium, glanced down at her notes and took a breath. It’d be fine. She’d be fine. She’d practised and she wouldn’t mess up the first wedding she ever hosted. She scanned the crowd, scanned the expectant and waiting faces of the guests, and caught Ezri’s eye. This morning she had confided in her lover how nervous she felt, and Ezri had assured her she would do great. She got a little nod and a smile now to affirm this and discreetly blinked her thanks.

Julian stepped out from behind the curtain first, Miles right behind him. Then after a pause, Garak, with Odo right behind _him_. Odo looked as nervous as she felt, Miles less so – that was to be expected – but Julian and Garak; there was nothing but serenity on either of their faces, no worry, no doubt. Only serenity and love as they gazed into each other’s eyes like there was nobody else, nothing else in the universe.

Many years ago she would have staked anything on the fact that she’d never see a Cardassian look that way. And she’d grown used to Cardassians, growing up around them, she knew how to read their body language. More recently she’d learned to read Human body language – which admittedly was rather peculiar – but things had changed. She’d seen these two longing after each other. She’d seen this serenity in the gazes shared between Jake and Ziyal, and now between Julian and Garak, now that they’d _finally_ gotten together after all these years. But that was the way it was supposed to be on your wedding day.

She cleared her throat.

“Family, friends, colleagues; I welcome you here today to witness this special day, this happy privilege I have been given as commander of this station. I welcome you here today to bear witness as we unite two dear friends in the bonds of matrimony.”

Miles reached into the pocket which had been tacked onto the inside of his dress uniform – strangely no Starfleet uniforms had pockets that Nerys had ever come across, much to her chagrin when she was given one for her mission to lead Damar – and retrieved the ring he was looking after, passing it to Julian.

“Do you, Julian Subatoi Bashir, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, together in whatever good times and bad may befall you, until death do you part?”

“I do,” he took the ring from Miles’ outstretched hand, and slid it onto the fourth finger of Garak’s left hand, smiling fondly all the while.

Odo’s ‘hand’ unfurled and reshaped so that the ring for Julian now sat in his palm.

“Do you, Elim Garak,” Kira continued, noticing the infinitesimal wince on his face at her use of his forename – although he had, on this one occasion alone, authorised it – “take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, together in whatever good times and bad may befall you, until death do you part?”

“I do,” he lifted the silver band from Odo gently and slid it onto Julian’s finger.

“Then it is my pleasure to officially pronounce you married, you may now kiss,” she concluded, as they leaned forward and pressed their lips together briefly. It was chaste and modest, and spoke little of the passion voluminous in their eyes, but it was very, very sweet.

When she looked at Vic, she noticed that he was crying.

**

Two hours later, and Quark’s was buzzing with happy chatter and laughter, and many people conveying their personal congratulations to the happy couple.

The Dabo tables had been moved out of the way – the proprietor wanted it noted that he was lodging a formal complaint, “all these people here and none of them gambling!” – to make room for a dancing area, and tablecloths had been laid across the tables, thin curtains handing from the ceiling and delicate lamps installed in the walls.

Some calm jazz music began playing softly over the speakers and the sound of a microphone being tapped echoed around the room.

“Assembled guests,” Vic’s voice ran out. “I’ve been asked by my good friend Julian to provide some entertainment to get the evening started. I think he just feels bad about my tribble situation.” Everyone laughed. “Truly though, it’s an honour, and with that in mind I’d like to invite these two lovely gents to the floor for the first dance.”

 _It had taken a lot of persuading to convince Elim to dance at the reception. It had been the case with many aspects of this wedding. As he had rightfully pointed out, Humans are so_ public _about their feelings, about things they should keep to their chests, but Julian had pointed out, everyone already knew they were getting married, and everyone knew what dancing looked like, so two dances wouldn’t hurt. He could survive two dances._

_“Two?” Elim had asked._

_“Yeah, first and last of the night,” Julian had said. “I’ll let you off the hook for all the others.”_

_Eventually, Elim had agreed. Truthfully, Julian wasn’t sure how much of it he was actually dubious about, how much of it he was just token-protesting for the fun of it. Although, there had been no dancing at the Cardassian ceremony._

_“Two dances at the wedding,” he’d conceded. “but other than that, we only dance when we’re alone.”_

They made their way to the floor as Vic continued: “took my time deciding the best song to open with, and eventually settled on a favourite of mine, especially for weddings. So without further ado, here’s Dancing In The Dark – not the Springsteen one, I’m afraid, that hasn’t yet been released in my timeline.” There was more laughter in response to that.

Both hands clasped, they stepped close then away, and Julian spun Elim under his arm, before taking up a ballroom hold as they had practised; Julian in the leading position because Earth’s nineteen thirties’ dance was not exactly something one would learn in the Obsidian Order, and began to step across the floor, Vic’s smooth voice in the background.

“This isn’t so bad, is it?” Julian whispered in his husband’s ear.

“They’re not here,” Elim whispered back. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s only us.”

They didn’t talk any more. They didn’t need to, that was the wonderful thing about them, there was always so much that was left unsaid between them and yet somehow they always knew exactly what that silence was telling them. Pulling Elim closer, Julian breathed in his scent, basked in it, and in how extraordinarily lucky he was to have won the heart of this plain and simple and thoroughly complicated man.

The song changed, and other couples began to join them on the dance floor, but they didn’t notice.

It was only them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent a lot of time on the last scene because I wanted it to be absolutely perfect. I thought it would be good to pick a song that James Darren had recorded, and a link can be found [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CLOZ_TJ3pM&list=PLMRbVOg8yXDqKwvXQeh9Sn2os0wJ5N57O&index=1). I almost didn’t use it because The Boss’ song is my jam and it was too weird when I discovered a jazz song with the same name, but then I thought of the joke Vic made, which is in keeping with his mixed up centuries persona, and loved it. So I kept it.


End file.
